Post by Dachan-da (shiznit) on Oct 14, 2009 7:42:57 GMT -6
This is the original, featuring monks
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Alien III
Screenplay by John Fasano
Story by Vincent Ward & John Fasano
FIRST DRAFT
March 29, 1990
"But how will you die when your time
comes, Narcissus, since you have no
mother? Without a mother, one cannot
love. Without a mother, one cannot die."
- Hesse
ALIEN III
THE SCREEN IS BLACK
A pinpoint of light appears.
Red. An ember.
Unseen BELLOWS blow.
GLASS FURNACE
The embers glow. Flame.
The fire GROWS.
A RIVER OF MOLTEN GLASS
Heated by the furnace to over 1,300 degrees fahrenheit.
White Hot.
GLASS FACTORY
Flickering flame casts dancing shadows on wooden walls.
Coarsely grained wood. Moisture blasted out by years of
intense heat. Timbers split. Patched with new wood,
it too now old and dry.
SMOKE
Billows up the walls.
Hangs as an angry, black cloud amongst the rafters and beams of
the vaulted ceiling. Almost obscures --
A MAN
On a narrow LEDGE, twenty feet about the Glassworks' floor.
His clothing is Medieval. A rough textured cassock.
He is a MONK.
LOUVERS are set into the wall. He angles them open.
The smoke begins to escape.
The Monk turns, raises arms and LEAPS from his lofty perch --
Gently gliding down to the floor with the aid of a FLOWING FOX --
a primitive hand-held pulley that runs down a rope.
He lands next to the glass furnace, surrounded by --
MORE MONKS
By their dress. With Blowing Iron and Pontil.
They blow and shape the molten glass. Crack off the finished
pieces. The old way.
ONE PARTICULAR MONK
Black skinned, early fifties.
Stirs his five foot long blowing iron in the molten glass, but
he is watching something else. It moves him to song.
Lilting tenor lifts high into the air.
This is BROTHER KYLE.
BROTHER KYLE
Well would he guess the ascending of the star,
Wherein his patient's fortunes settled were.
He knew the course of every malady,
Were it of cold or heat or moist or dry.
Brother John, would-be Doctour of Physick.
We see the object of his song:
BROTHER JOHN
Not yet forty. Strong features, but fear behind the eyes.
The fear that comes from a lack of inner confidence.
A good face, nonetheless.
He stirs a thick mixture in a mortar.
Next to him another MONK sits holding his arm out in front of
him, cassock sleeve rolled up, revealing a vicious BURN.
BROTHER KYLE
Tend you quickly he will,
with bottles from a shelf.
But heals not, so easily,
The ills which plague himself.
Brother John stops stirring.
BROTHER JOHN
(to Kyle)
Enough.
He scoops the salve out with his fingers and applies it to the
Burned Monk's arm. The Burned Monk INHALES sharpley as the cool
mixture contacts the injured area.
BROTHER JOHN
(to the burned Monk)
Relax.
(to Kyle)
Put those lungs of yours to better
use.
BROTHER KYLE
Yes, Doc Tor.
Kyle laughs, removes the blowing iron from the molten glass --
a BLOB of white hot glass hanging on the end.
He rolls the blob on the Marver, a flat, polished piece of
iron, then begins to blow a bottle shaped container.
John wraps a fray-edged cloth bandage around the burn.
JOHN
Keep this from getting wet. Go home at
late afternoon mealtime and don't come
back to work today --
BURNED MONK
But John --
JOHN
I'll tell the Abbot. Just rest today.
You're lucky you only burned yourself on
the side of the furnace. If some of that
glass had gotten on your arm --
He points to the top of his forearm.
JOHN
-- it would've burned clean through to
the other side.
He mimes a drop down from the bottom of his arm.
The Burned Monk shudders at the thought.
BELLS toll.
JOHN
That's late afternoon. Now get on.
BURNED MONK
Thank you, John. I --
JOHN
You're welcome. Go!
The Burned Monk trundles off, injured arm against his chest.
John gathers his mortar, pestle, and extra bandages into a
burlap sack. Kyle comes over.
KYLE
Good work.
JOHN
All right, but I'm no Father Anselm.
KYLE
You're yourself, that's better...
Kyle pushes him through the door...
INTO THE HALLWAY
The Hallway is alive with cassocked monks.
Their LOW CHANTING reverberates throughout the building.
The wooden floorboards creak beneath their combined weights.
This is obviously a MEDIEVAL MONASTERY...
KYLE
The Abbot will be pleased.
JOHN
Don't.
KYLE
Don't what?
JOHN
Please don't tell him. At least until
I know if there's an infection.
KYLE
You want to be the Abbey's Physician,
and you haven't learned the first rule:
Don't worry about the patient.
John's face drops.
KYLE
I shouldn't have. Sorry. Look, I know
how you must --
JOHN
You don't, but thanks anyway.
AT THE END OF THE HALLWAY
A wide stairwell. A constant stream of monks all moving down
the stairs. Coming from floors above. Headed for lunch.
Kyle starts down. John starts up --
KYLE
Not coming down?
JOHN
I have someone waiting for me.
Kyle disappears into the crowd.
John moves up...
THE STAIRWAY
A river of brown cassocks running downstream.
John is the only one moving against the flow.
He exits the stairwell --
ONE FLOOR UP
A narrow corridor lined with doorways.
John moves to one in particular.
He doesn't even look as he grabs the door knob.
This is his room.
He opens the door --
IN BROTHER JOHN'S ROOM
An old, worn out DOG lays in wait on an old, worn out cassock
which is now serving as its bed.
At the sight of John it stands.
JOHN
Come on, Mattias.
The dog, MATTIAS, joins him in the hall.
Monk and pet disappear up a flight of stairs.
Past another dozen or so Monks who are on their way down.
INT. LIBRARY
A vast room filled with rows of wooden tables with low benches
between aisle after aisle of floor-to-ceiling wooden shelves
jammed to capacity with BOOKS of all shapes and sizes. Millions
of books, from the looks of it.
From each book hangs a long CHAIN, long enough to allow the
book to be carried only as far as the nearest table.
A CORPULENT MONK - BROTHER PHILIP
In his fifties, and the Librarian by his stern affect, his
position behind a broad, but also old oak desk, and the large
KEY hanging from his belt. He watches the few stragglers return
their chain bound volumes to the shelves and head for the door,
then rises and joins them...
IN THE CORRIDOR JUST OUTSIDE THE LIBRARY
John leans against the wall as Philip exits.
Mattias is nowhere to be seen.
PHILIP
Brother John.
JOHN
Brother Philip.
PHILIP
Feeding the mind instead of the body
again?
JOHN
My training has taught me to feed what's
hungry.
Philip pats his broad stomach and heads down the hallway.
PHILIP
As did mine. As long as you're alone.
Enjoy yourself -- and remember, no book
leaves the library.
JOHN
How could I forget? Have a good meal...
John watches the corpulent librarian head down the stairs.
When he's gone from sight John lifts the bottom of his cassock
to reveal Mattias.
JOHN
Perfect.
They move into the library...
THE MEDIEVAL SECTION
The oldest books.
John moves to the stacks.
Mattias trots over to a particular bench and sits.
This is his regular place.
AT THE SHELVES
John stands on toe tips to retrieve an ancient Tome.
He runs his fingers over the familiar leather binding.
A smile plays across his lips.
He carries the book, places it on the edge of the table so
there is slack in the chain.
Sits on the bench next to the dog.
Clears his throat, opens the book, begins to read...
John
(reading)
In the year of our Lord 1348 I, Brother
Gerhado of the Minorite Abbey helped bury
the Abbot and my sixty fellow monks --
VOICE O/S
Sometimes, I think you'd like that.
John turns to find --
THE ABBOT
Leader of the monastery. In his seventies but looks younger.
His Cassock is adorned with a large, ornately carved, wooden
CHAIN in place of a rope belt. He crosses to the table.
John closes the book and stands, head bowed in respect.
John
Abbot, I -- I didn't think anyone would --
ABBOT
Mind? Just Philip, if he knew. I passed
him on the way up. He said you'd come
in alone. I knew better.
He scratches the back of Mattias' neck.
ABBOT
Hello, Mattias. How are you, boy?
The dog snuffles in response.
ABBOT
You know what Philip says about Mattias'
hair and his breathing. You'll have to
take him out of here.
JOHN
He likes when I read to him and -- I
can't --
John looks down sheepishly. Though nearly forty, he feels
almost adolescent in the presence of the Abbot.
The Abbot pulls a large key from his pocket.
ABBOT
(smiles)
Someone must have left this one unlocked.
Take the book with you.
He hands the key to John, who is shocked --
this is a great honor.
JOHN
Father, I --?
ABBOT
Kyle tells me you did a good job at
the glassworks today.
JOHN
I'll reserve judgement until the patient
lives.
John crosses to the shelf and unlocks his book.
He returns the key.
ABBOT
It will get easier. Father Anselm was...
an unexpected loss. You'll do fine.
The Abbot walks towards the door...
ABBOT
Just have it back before the end of lunch.
Oh -- And I didn't see you in here.
JOHN
Thank you.
(to Mattias)
Let's go upstairs, boy.
John takes his book -- Moves to a spiral wooden staircase.
Mattias at his heels.
Goes UP --
INTO THE BELL TOWER
The mechanics of the bell tower -- all ropes and wooden cogs
cast scary shadows.
A doorway leads to --
THE ROOF OF THE ABBEY
Thick with sandy dust. The wood shows through thin patches.
We PULL BACK TO REVEAL what we think is the roof of the Abbey
is actually --
THE SURFACE OF ARCEON - NIGHT
The door has opened onto the SURFACE OF A PLANTOID!
The curving horizon broken only by the very top of the
Abbey bell tower poking through from the levels below.
SMOKE curls from vents set into the surface.
Sunken areas of the planet's sirface are SEAS.
This is ARCEON.
An manmade orbiter.
A shell of lightweight foamed steel, five miles in diameter.
Constructed by The Company on Special Order with habitable
level within finished in whatever material suits its end user.
This orbiter, for reasons to be discovered later, has been
sheathed in wood.
JOHN
Walks to the shore of an inland SEA.
Sits on a bare patch of wood. Looks up.
His eyes grow accustomed to --
THE NIGHT SKY - JOHN POV
Freckled with tiny dots of light.
Stars. Spread across the inky void.
Bathe Arceon's surface with their celestial glow.
John smiles at Mattias, breathes deep.
The atmosphere up here is thinner, but fresher.
He opens the book.
Reads aloud --
JOHN
In the year of our Lord 1348 I, Brother
Gerhado of the Minorite Abbey helped bury
the Abbot and my sixty fellow monks, day
by day, one by one, until I am the only
one left. I stayed as long as I could bear
it, then with my dog --
Mattias lifts his ears at this part. His favorite part.
JOHN
- fled. I have put this to parchment lest
this pestilence - this Black Death -
stay my hand.
(beat)
This was finished by another hand...
John closes the book. Something catches his eye --
Something among the myriad points of light in the sky.
Millions of miles away:
ONE OF THE STARS
Brighter than the rest. MOVING.
Fast enough to leave a faint trail.
Across the stars. And down...
A comet.
John stands. Watches --
THE STAR
Growing brighter.
Drawing nearer.
JOHN
Joined by three other MONKS.
They are older than he.
The Four men watch the sky...
THE STAR
Brighter still. Closer.
MORE MONKS
Two dozen. A hundred.
They come up through the planet's surface.
Out of wooden trap doors. Join the others.
Days pass.
Now three hundred.
Necks bowed back.
Mouths agape.
A SUBTITLE identifies...
RELIGIOUS COLONY ARCEON
-----------------------
POPULATION: 350 Exiles
CRIME: Political Heresy
THE STAR
Fills the sky.
Burns brighter still as it hits the planetoid's atmosphere.
ON THE SURFACE OF ARCEON
Hundreds of Monks shield their eyes as the ship -- the star --
ROARS over their heads. Trailing FIRE --
John holds up his hands - to touch a star --
Skin BLISTERS as it passes over him,
He turns and watches as it --
Arcs downward --
INTO THE SEA
WHOMP- SSSSSSSSSS --!!
PLUMES of steam rise into the air.
The water boils. Fish bob to the surface. Bloated. Dead.
JOHN
Is the first to hit the shore.
Small leather and wood fishing boats tossed by the wake.
His coracle is the first into the water.
The others running up behind him.
He cannot hear the SHOUTS of warning.
ON THE SEA - DAWN
The sun cracks over the black water.
John's hands move the rough wooden oars.
Blistered palm opens.
BLOOD flows.
He tears off a piece of his cassock --
Rips it with his teeth --
Wraps the bloody hand.
Rows.
THE STAR
Ship. Star Ship.
Sulaco escape vehicle #4 rocks on the water.
White metal skin blackened by the heat.
JOHN
Rows right into it.
His coracle pitches in the choppy surf.
He scrambles onto the ship's cracked tile surface.
Teeters -- balances -- moves to the unmistakeable HATCH.
Looks around for a knob, a handle --
NEXT TO THE HATCH
A small panel door whose black and yellow stripes denote
urgency. John hesitantly opens the door, revealing a shiny
metal LEVER. He stares at it...a beat.
Then quickly pulls it down...
WUORRRSH -!
Hull door OPENS.
The doorway is a black maw.
John crosses himself.
Begins to lower his foot into the hatch --
KYLE O/S
Watch it!
He almost falls backwards off the ship. Looks back --
THE OTHER MONKS
Are rapidly approaching.
Kyle gestulates wildly --
KYLE
John! Wait -- ! Don't go in!
John turns back to the open hatch.
Machine recirculated air flows out.
He feels it on the skin of his face. Cool.
Cool, and artificial. It calls to him.
He steps in. Swallowed by the blackness --
WHOOSH-CLANG -!
The door closes behind him.
INT. SULACO ESCAPE POD #4 - DAY
Dark. Dim red lights. John stands still as his eyes adjust to
the darkness. He sees:
NEWT'S HYPER SLEEP TUBE
A glass and metal COFFIN -- pneumatic piping twines around its
base. The glass lid is BROKEN. A Small RED LIGHT pulses at the
head of the tube -- a soft VOICE and TONE, like your seat belt
warning -- is audible...
COMPUTER VOICE
(sotto)
Seal broken...seal broken...
John finds himself moving towards the tube...
Looks through the broken lid:
IN THE TUBE
There is a splattered BLOOD STAIN on the sterile white
interior. OLD, turned rust-brown.
Whatever happened here happened a while ago.
Rust colored drips trail down to --
THE FLOOR
Drag marks. His eyes follow the stains to a pile of
Bloody clothing against a control panel. A jumpsuit. Torn.
Child size. The head of child's DOLL, but no body to be found.
JOHN
Looks back towards the door.
Part of him wants to get the hell out here -- but he fights
back his fear. He is a doctor - or trying to be - someone
in here may need his help. He presses forward --
Averts his gaze from the clothing, UP to the blinking and
glowing instrument panels and their myraid --
LIGHTS
Pressure lights. Data lights. Warning lights.
Thousands of lights. Like the stars in the sky.
It's been decades since he's seen technology like this -- and
never this close up. He steps further into the ship, his fear
now replaced by fascination, follows the lights....
ON A PALE GREEN SCREEN
LED numbers race -- 7,291.01.05...06...07
A legand identifies "Elapsed since separation."
He moves on...
A VIDEO MONITOR
Through scanning bars of snow, an image:
A WOMAN with a YOUNG GIRL standing in front of her.
The Woman's arms are wrapped around the girl.
Protective. Maternal.
The Woman speaks. Her message repeats itself.
A tape loop, although John has no idea what that is.
WOMAN
...taking pod four. The Crew of the SS
Sulaco and all Marine commandoes are dead.
Ship's sensors have interrupted the hyper
sleep cycle. An overlooked alien egg has
hatched. Bishop and Hicks have been killed.
Xenomorphs have infested the cruiser. Newt
and I are taking pod four. The Crew of...
The WARNING TONE of the Woman's message rekindles John's fear.
He moves more hesitantly around the periphery of the ship,
following the trail of blinking instruments --
Drawn to touch a button. Click...
SOMETHING TENTACLE-LIKE DROPS DOWN ON HIS SHOULDER!
Just an oxygen mask.
John feels his rapidly BEATING heart as he pushes aside the
plastic, dangling object and continues around the shuttle.
His hand brushes over a SENSOR which responds by lighting and --
HSSSSSSSSS -!
A BLAST of freon shoots out of an overhead pipe --
John SHOUTS and back up into --
ANOTHER HYPER SLEEP TUBE!!!
Next to Newt's now empty tube.
Humming gently. Still operational.
John approaches it cautiously.
He can make out the occupant through the lid...
A WOMAN
The woman from the screen. This is RIPLEY.
In hypersleep. Wearing a white cotton tank top and boxer-type
shorts. Christ, she looks beautiful.
John looks from Ripley to her image on the monitor, then back.
Sinks to his knees, reverent. Fascination has replaced fear
again. Moves his face closer to the lid.
Closer to hers...
DAYLIGHT spills in --
John's head WHIPS towards the source of the light --
THE DOOR
Open. Kyle and the other monks.
KYLE
John - what is it? Is this a Supply ship?
JOHN
No. No supplies. Kyle, there's someone
in here --
The Second Monk looks at Kyle.
SECOND MONK
This is forbidden.
KYLE
John. Just get the hell out of there --
JOHN
I don't want to stay. I have to get her
out before this sinks. You come in, give
me a hand --
KYLE
Her? Look, this is not the supply ship,
so this is technology forbidden to us.
Get out of there now!
John looks down at Ripely.
A KEYPAD is mounted at the head of the tube.
A red button: "EMERG-OPEN"
That's plain enough.
JOHN
All right --
He presses it.
The Tube opens with a loud BLAST of compressed air.
The Monks at the door recoil at the sound.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE SHIP - ON THE SEA - DAY
Ripley has been lowered into a large coracle. John holds her in
front of him. Unconscious.
Her head lolls as the boat rocks on the waves.
The monks start to row back to short.
FIRST MONK
(reverent)
A space ship...
SECOND MONK
(even more reverent)
A woman...
KYLE
You shouldn't have gone in --
JOHN
I'm supposed to be a doctor.
He pushes Ripley's hair away from her forehead.
JOHN
She could've been lost.
FIRST MONK
Been a long time since I saw either.
SECOND MONK
It isn't sinking. Look at it. What are we
supposed to do with it?
KYLE
What was it like in there --?
JOHN
Lights. So many lights --
THIRD MONK
Tow it in. Bring it in.
SECOND MONK
It's evil.
FIRST MONK
It's just technology.
SECOND MONK
Evil technology. Look at these fish --
THIRD MONK
The Abbot will know what we should do
with it --
KYLE
Just lights?
JOHN
Machines. Buttons. Metal.
SECOND MONK
See? Just look at the fish.
THIRD MONK
The Abbot will know.
SECOND MONK
They're boiled. These fish are boiled.
JOHN
Thousands of lights. Like the stars.
Like Heaven on Earth.
Ripley stirs in John's arms. Groans.
Fights to come out of her fugue state...
Looks around through half-lidded eyes --
She is surrounded by rowing, cassocked Monks.
MONKS? She closes her eyes.
Tries to clear the imagine. Opens:
They're still there.
She looks down at the bloodied hands around her waist --
realizes she's sitting on someone's lap.
Looks back over her shoulder --
JOHN
He smiles at her.
Friendly, not sexual.
RIPLEY
Shakes her head. Tries to speak --
Her lips form soundless words.
She looks over her other shoulder, sees --
THE SHIP - RIPLEY POV
Bobbing on the surface.
Growing small with each stroke of the oars.
RIPLEY
Brows knit. Fights the cobwebs in her brain.
Tries to focus on the ship --
Remembers.
Turns to John, tries to speak --
RIPLEY
Wait. New...
She loses consciousness.
GO TO BLACK...
INT. THE ABBEY - RIPLEY'S ROOM - DAY
Streaks of light move across the darkness.
Form patterns of light and shadow against the wooden walls.
There is a sublime stillness, but coming through the walls are
the muted, far off SOUNDS of the Abbey --
The SAWING of wood. HAMMERING.
WHISPERED prayers.
LILTING song.
We move down off the wall to a hand-made wooden bed.
Ripley in restless sleep.
EXT. ARCEON SEA - DUSK
The waters grown rough with the approach of night. Wind whips across
white wave tops -- SPRAYS the dozen Monks who LASH their
boats to Ripley's SHIP with thick hemp ropes --
Start to tow it to shore...
INT. RIPLEY'S ROOM - NIGHT
Ripley is sleeping -- but struggling against some unseen foe --
She tries to sit up -- can't. Tries to shake off the effects of
the suspended animation...looks up through half-lidded eyes:
JOHN
Sits next to her. Quite asleep.
Hands swathed in white bandages. Book resting on his lap.
She squints to make the figure standing in the shadows
behind him -- it's skin picks up and reflects tiny points of
flickering cangle light - seems to ripple as it moves --
THE ALIEN
Big, black shiny-smooth head moves into the taper light.
It moves towards her, cable-like arms held out at its side --
moving out of sync with its feet -- Ripley tries to move -
to cry out -- She can't.
She can only move her eyes. She looks over at John, sleeping
peacefully. He doesn't notice the Alien --
The Alien moves closer.
She can feel his breath -- it evaporates the sweat on her
forehead -- a CHILL runs through her but she still can't move --
The Alien stands alongside her bed.
Extends a six-fingered hand...
Gently rests it on her stomach.
Cocks its head -- like it's listening to something.
The implication is clear.
Ripley finds her voice --
RIPLEY
AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
Her eyes open wide --
She sits bolt upright.
A hand moves to her forehead. Gently pushes her head back to
the pillow. John's.
JOHN
You're out of it. Out of it...
Ripley falls back, eyes glued to where the alien appeared.
John sees her focal point, looks back over his shoulder:
Nothing.
Ripley's eyes roll back into her head.
She tries to speak -- It was there.
Her hand, at her side, tightens into a fist --
John's hand covers hers.
Eases the fingers open again.
She feels the coarse bandages against her palm.
He starts to read quietly from Saint Augustines' Confessions.
She begins to drowse again as his soft voice flows over her
like waves lapping against the shore...
EXT. SURGACE OF ARCEON - DAY
A HOWLING DUST STORM has kicked up. The monks wear small round
goggles, have rags tied over their noses, as they work at a
huge BLOCK AND TACKLE arrangement --
Hundreds of ropes grow TAUT.
Timbers GROAN.
They LIFT Ripley's SHIP -- SWING it over to a large portal --
INT. RIPLEY'S ROOM - DAY
Ripley lays with eyes closed.
Muffled VOICES outside her door:
ABBOT
How is the woman, John?
JOHN
I don't think she's here yet.
At the sound of John's voice the SLIGHTEST smile plays
across Ripley's sleeping lips.
JOHN
She is close, though.
As they continue talking, Ripley wakes. Opens her eyes.
Rolls over onto her side --
There is a window right next to the bed.
Ripley lifts herself up on one elbow, looks out:
HER POV
Garden of Earthly delights...
Monks laboring under a beautiful, celestial blue sky --
picking apples, fishing on the water on small inland lakes.
Working with hammer and saw on small wooden cottages. Lyrical.
It makes her feel good. She scans the countryside...
Sheep graze around wooden ladders stretching hundreds of feet
up to the -- Ripley does a take --
WORKERS ON A SCAFFOLDING
With crude brushes at the end of poles -- PAINT the sky blue.
The Abbey, the cottages, the fields outside her window are all
on one level - INSIDE THE PLANET.
The vaulted CEILING, painted to look like the sky with huge
glass "windows" to allow the sunlight in, is actually the
UNDERSIDE of the planetoid's outer shell.
Ripley looks back at the Monks on the ground:
Instead of repairing, they are taking the cabins apart, stacking
the wood onto push carts --
RIPLEY
What the hell --?
SUDDENLY --
The Sulaco Escape ship APPEARS in front of her.
SWINGS past her window suspended by ropes.
Then disappears up, out of sight.
Ripley checks her pulse.
RIPLEY
This must be a dream. A bad one.
She rolls back onto the bed.
Stares up at the ceiling.
ABOVE HER - ON THE ROOF OF THE ABBEY
Monks scurry around the Ship as it is lowered into place on
a flat area of the roof above the libaray.
It seats with a deeply resounding THUD...
RIPLEY
Hears the SOUND and then another - her door OPENING.
She turns to find the Abbot and John standing in the doorway.
John waits in the doorway as the Abbot crosses to the chair by
the bed and sits.
RIPLEY
Who are you?
ABBOT
I am the Abbot. Leader of this Colony.
And you?
He smiles. Open. Friendly.
RIPLEY
Ripley. How did I get here?
ABBOT
Your vehicle crash landed.
(indicates John)
Brother John found you and brought
you here.
RIPLEY
Where is here?
ABBOT
This is the Minorite Abbey within the
manmade orbiter Arceon.
RIPLEY
Can I use a radio to --
ABBOT
We have no radio here. We are a monastic
order that has renounced all modern
technology. We live the old way. The pure
way.
She shakes her head.
RIPLEY
Uh, I - I still don't feel 100%. Whoever
took me out of the stasis tube must not
have run the full D-F program...
Where's Newt?
The Abbot looks at her blankly.
RIPLEY
There was a little girl with me --
ABBOT
You were alone.
RIPLEY
No. She was with me. I put her in her
stasis tube -- We launched when the --
ABBOT
You were the only living thing found
aboard that vessel.
The Abbot watches Ripley as the terrible truth overcomes her --
RIPLEY
(slowly)
Oh, God. Newt.
She stops -- gets that chill up her spine --
She realizes that she MUST have brought the Alien with her.
RIPLEY
It came with us.
The Abbot leans in.
ABBOT
What came with you?
RIPLEY
Listen -- there is a danger here. It
came with me. How long have I been here?
ABBOT
Almost two days --
RIPLEY
(calculates)
Loose for two days. This planet could be
overrun within the week.
Ripley grabs the Abbot by his cassock --
RIPLEY
Look, there's a xenomorph --
(sees his confusion)
An Alien creature. A killer. A monster.
And now it's here.
The Abbot looks at her the way you look at that guy on the corner
of Santa Monica and 3rd who's babbling about Judgement Day. The
guy with his pants down around his kness.
She sees this, releases her hold on him...
RIPLEY
Calm down, Ripley. Okay, I was with a
platoon of Colonial Marines on a mission
to planetoid LV426. We left Earth six
months ago - maybe a year --
ABBOT
(interrupts)
Wait a moment --
The Abbot becomes aware of John's presence in the doorway.
Turns over his shoulder at him.
ABBOT
Leave us.
John waits there a beat, then backs out and closes the door.
ABBOT
Continue.
RIPLEY
We launched in the Cruiser Sulaco from
Gateway sub-orbital space station --
ABBOT
Not possible.
RIPLEY
What do you mean?
ABBOT
When we left Earth seventy years ago, it
was on the brink of a New Dark Age.
Technology was on the verge of destroying
the planet's environment. A computer virus
was threatening to wipe away all recorded
knowledge. There didn't seem to be any
way it could be averted. In the almost
forty years since we were towed out here
in hypersleep, the news that came with
occasional supply ships only got worse.
Finally, the ships stopped coming. We
had to resign ourselves to the fact that
worst had come to pass, and the Earth
no longer existed.
Now she gives him that look.
RIPLEY
(slowly)
Uh...All right... Forget the Earth - How
many people do you have here? Let's worry
about them. Warn them --
A new look overtakes the Abbot's face. A look of fear.
Now she's getting to him - or is she?
He abruptly stands.
ABBOT
Your mind is troubled. You need to rest
some more.
RIPLEY
I don't need rest - I need to get to
your people. You've got to get to them --
tell them about the alien --
He heads for the door --
ABBOT
I have had enough for now.
RIPLEY
Enough? Didn't you hear what I said?
It could wipe out the entire population
of this planet. It may have started
already - Have there been any unusual
deaths since I got here?
The Abbot stops in the door -
ABBOT
No. And there won't be.
The Abbot SLAMS the door behind him.
THE CORRIDOR OUTSIDE RIPLEY'S ROOM - DAY
John stands nearby as the Abbot addresses two BURLY MONKS
ABBOT
Bolt it.
The guards move to bolt the door.
JOHN
What is it -- What's wrong?
ABBOT
Your patient is in a dangerous mental
state. Nobody gets in or out until I
say so.
JOHN
But I. Her meals --
ABBOT
Nobody.
JOHN
Father, I don't understand --
The Abbot turns and disappears down the hall.
John looks from the departing Abbot to the two Guard/Monks.
THE LIBRARY - NIGHT
John has his head buried in his hands. His back rises and falls
with the rhythmic breathing of sleep.
Mattias curled up on his feet. Asleep as well.
WHAM!
The Library door FLIES open --!
John sits bolt upright --
A HYSTERICAL MONK bursts in.
Rushes to John's table.
HYSTERICAL MONK
Brother John! You're here! The Abbot
said you'd -- I need -- you're the
medic --
JOHN
What?!
HYSTERICAL MONK
My Sandy -- she's ill --
John tries to rub the fitfull sleep out of his eyes.
JOHN
Huh? A woman?
HYSTERICAL MONK
Sandy. My ewe.
John returns his head to the table.
JOHN
One of your sheep? Jesus Christ.
Call a vet.
HYSTERICAL MONK
Father Anselm was the vet.
John looks under his arms at Mattias --
The dog just stares at him.
JOHN
You're no help. Okay, let me get my bag.
All creatures great and small...
INT. HYSTERICAL MONK'S BARN - NIGHT
A small structure housing a handful of sheep and a few chickens
in wire cages. The wooden walss are full of gaps where boards
have been ripped off.
The Hysterical Monk holds a torch to illuminate the scene. One of
his sheep is laying on its side...
HYSTERICAL MONK
I just gave her dinner and she
keeled over.
JOHN
So would I. It's freezing in here.
HYSTERICAL MONK
Been using the wood from the walls
for the fire in my cabin.
JOHN
Haven't we all...
John kneels at the ewe.
She's breathing heavy. Rapidly.
John puts his left hand down on the hay covered floor while he
checks the animal's neck pulse with his right hand.
She gives a weak "Baa-ah."
JOHN
May be pneumonia. Pitch some of that hay
around her. Stop this damn cold breeze.
The Hysterical Monk props the torch up in an empty bucket and
retreives a crude iron pitchfork from the wall.
Starts to pile hay around the fallen animal.
JOHN
First, I'll --
He sits up to reach for his back, then stops when he sees what's
on his left hand --
A SLIMY MUCOUS-LIKE SUBSTANCE
JOHN
Wait a minute...
The Hysterical Monk stops on mid-pitch.
John rubs the material between his fingers.
Brings it close to his nose. Sniffs.
HYSTERICAL MONK
What is it?
JOHN
I don't know. It's all over the ground.
Some sort of --
BAAA-AAAH!!!
The ewe starts to SHAKE - QUIVER --
John tries to hold it down --
The Hysterical Monk, at this juncture, goes completely apeshit.
HYSTERICAL MONK
What?! WHAT?!
JOHN
Jesus! Help m --
The ewe is shaking so violently that John is thrown back --
He knocks over the bucket -- the torch falls into the hay --
The light is cut off as the torch almost smothers.
Then the hay starts to burn --
Weak fire light revealing:
BAAaa-Aha-SCLORTCH-H-!!
THE EWE EXPLODES ---!
Stomach BURSTS --
SPRAYING the two Monks with entrails and blood --
They start SCREAMING.
The flickering FIRE LIGHT grows as...
A TERRIBLE ALIEN CHEST-BURSTER
BURSTS out of the jerking and twitching carcass.
It shows the characteristics of the animal in which it has
gestated. Tiny razor sharp teeth and black, glass-like eyes
peer from a enlongated head covered with downy, but gore-matted
WOOL. A quadroped, its shrunked hind legs struggling to free
itself from the cooling morass of intestines.
John can only SCREAM as the most horrible nightmare he can
imagine tries to slough off the animal's mortal coil.
The Hysterical Monk, fear overcome with ANGER at the loss of
his beloved Sandy, steps in front of the near catatonic Medic
and instinctively THRUSTS his pitchfork into the creature --
The sharp prongs PIERCE its still forming body --
The CREATURE
WAILS a high pitched SHRIEK - half alien, half sheep as it is
roughly TORN from it's nesting place --
The Monk lifts --
It TWISTS at the end of the fork, acid blood dripping onto the
wood floor -- each drop bursting into a little pool of FIRE.
The Hysterical Monk turns to the now raging hay fire --
The entire corner of the barn is ablaze --
SHOVES the abomination in --
The Sheep/Alien POPS and SIZZLES as tongues of flame leap up to
lap at it's struggling body -- tiny tail whipping about --
The creature dies, its fading screams are soon the only sound
heard within the barn. The Hysterical Monk holds his fork in
the flame as he looks back to check on --
JOHN
Face contorted, eyes glued to the burning creature. Heaving
lungs push air through his diaphram, but no sound comes from
his open mouth -- The Doctor in training has seen the devil.
EXT. HYSTERICAL MONK'S BARN - NIGHT
Wooden walls collapse inward as the building becomes a pyre.
Acrid black smoke curls up to the ceiling and spreads out
across the rafters...
We pull back from the sight INTO a window. Into
INT. RIPLEY'S ROOM - NIGHT
Ripley, watches the burning barn. Frustrated, she climbs out of
the bed on unsteady legs, wearing her tank top and shorts.
Pulls on a coarse wollen cassock, ties the rope belt --
RIPLEY
Idiots...I'll --
WHAM!
The door BURSTS OPEN --
RIPLEY
What the -?
Four BURLY MONKS rush in and grab her.
TEAR her out of bed --
INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT
Ripley is dragged down the darkened hallway.
ABBOT V.O.
An evil has come to Arceon...
IN THE TRIBUNAL ROOM - NIGHT
As he continues we move down a row of stern Monk faces, ending
at the Abbots...
ABBOT
You heard Brother Graham tell of the
devil inside sheep's wool --
He motions towards the Hysterical Monk, sitting in the crowd.
ABBOT
An evil brought by this woman in her
vessel of technology.
PULL BACK TO REVEAL
A large circular room with wooden walls stretching thirty feet
high. Light creeps in through stained glass windows.
Hundreds of monks sits in a gallery that looms over
the floor of the Tribunal. On the floor:
The Abbot and the five eldest Monks sit at a long table facing
the witness stand. On the stand:
RIPLEY
Considers the faces that surround her. Fear. Hate.
RIPLEY
This can't be happening.
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
You have no voice in this tribunal.
RIPLEY
You must listen to me! You're all in
terrible danger! It came with me on
the ship --
ABBOT
We know that. At first we believed its
arrival was a good omen. But it has only
brought pestilence. Dead sheep. Dead fish.
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
Evil.
Ripley turns to the Abbot.
RIPLEY
Yes, the ship brought it. Not evil. It
brought the Alien. I told you, it's here.
ABBOT
We know the name of the evil it brought.
It brought technology. Technology to
destroy our planet, as surely as it
destroyed the Earth.
MONK IN AUDIENCE
Destruction!
RIPLEY
I was on the Earth less than a year ago.
It's still there. People, cities, all
still there!
A murmur through the crowd. Some are listening to her.
The Abbot looks around. He must be in command.
ABBOT
(matter of fact)
All dead.
RIPLEY
(screams)
It's still there!
The Abbot smiles to himself for making her crack.
He stands and begins to pace.
ABBOT
You could not have been on the Earth a
year ago, because there is no Earth to
be on -- for at least twenty years.
RIPLEY
I haven't been floating in space for
twenty years. Let me get to my ship
and I'll prove it.
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
No. Who knows what new evils she'll
release if allowed back into that
infernal machine.
MONK IN AUDIENCE
No! Don't let her!!
TRIBUNAL MEMBER
This woman is a danger. She denies The
New Dark Age. She denies reality.
RIPLEY
This is reality. There is a Xenomorph
loose on this planetoid - a alien -- it must
have stowed away on my ship -- must have
killed --
(swallows hard)
Newt. Killed the girl I brought with me.
You can't stop it. It goes inside you like
an egg - grows -
(mimes)
Explodes out of you - keeps growing into
some sort of monster. Kills you --
Kills all of you...
She looks at the Medieval people around her.
They stare at her in complete confusion.
To them, she does sound like a madwoman.
RIPLEY
Who are you people? Look at you -- all
of you -- the way you're dressed. This
isn't the Middle Ages. You're in space --
on a artifical planet. What are you
doing out here?
There, in the upper tier -- John. They make eye contact.
She looks to him pleadingly.
RIPLEY
Isn't there anyone here who will
listen?
John looks from Ripley to the Abbot.
The Abbot stares him down.
John turns away.
RIPLEY
(defeated)
I guess not. I can't believe this...
The gavel BANGS.
The Abbot sits in a moment of contemplation.
ABBOT
Then there is no choice.
The Four Monks grab Ripley roughly --
Bind her arms.
ABBOT
(to Ripley)
The evil is inside you. I cast you down.
To be sealed away. And God have mercy on
your soul.
SLAM CUT TO:
THE SHAFT ROOM - DAY
A Medieval elevator shaft. The "elevator" is a wooden cage
lowered on thick, rough hewn ropes.
Ripley, bound, is led to it.
She looks back at the monks who have gathered at the door --
RIPLEY
You won't be able to fight it...
You don't know what it is --!
She's put into the cage. The door is secured.
Two monks begins to pull the ropes. The cage is lifted out over
the abyss -- a vast cavernesque space.
The other Monks move closer. Crowd around the edge --
John pushes through them - right to the edge --
Watches as the cage is slowly lowered down...
Ripley looks directly at John --
RIPLEY
You've sentenced yourselves to
death!
John watches as she disappears down into the darkness...
Then turns and pushes his way through the crowd --
Down the hall --
THE TRIBUNAL ROOM
Empty now except for the Abbot and the Tribunal Members.
They speak in hushed tones.
John appears in the doorway, but pauses -
strains to hear what they are saying:
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
...they'll have started before she gets
down to the Hermitage level.
ABBOT
No trouble?
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
Only finding the wood for the ship. But
Anderson's hut was about that big, and
he's dead three months now.
ABBOT
I had that wood earmaked for the Cloister
next winter. Well, we might not get to
the winter if we don't take care of this.
By winter time we can start taking the
penitent cells apart. No one in them.
ANOTHER TRIBUNAL MONK
The wood isn't going to last forever.
ABBOT
Neither are we --
He becomes aware of John's presence, and motions the other
Tribunal members out of the room. John moves to the Abbot.
The Abbot knows what's coming...
ABBOT
Go ahead.
JOHN
This woman. Ripley. I tended her --
ABBOT
Yes, and you did a good job. You
shouldn't feel responsible. You
couldn't have known --
JOHN
Please, sir, let me finish. I feel that
there may be something to what she says.
ABBOT
There isn't.
The Abbot moves to his table, begins to gather up his gavel,
notebook. John follows him --
JOHN
I don't understand what you are doing.
ABBOT
This colony is my responsibility. I am
protecting the colony.
JOHN
From what? This woman? You never gave
her a chance. How can you be so sure
you're right?
ABBOT
A better question is what makes you
think I'm wrong?
JOHN
You didn't see this thing -- this demon --
Brother Graham and I -- we both saw it.
ABBOT
(realizes)
That's right. You both did.
(beat)
And what was it?
JOHN
I -- I don't know what it was. But I
don't think Ripley was a party to it.
ABBOT
She admits she brought it.
JOHN
But she tried to warn us --
ABBOT
You know that's how the devil works.
Deception.
JOHN
But I believe her. I don't know how to
describe it -- A feeling.
ABBOT
You haven't seen a woman in thirty years.
Where does this feeling originate, John?
JOHN
(points to his head)
Here.
Pause.
ABBOT
I believe you. But your feelings are
fooling you.
JOHN
It's - It's her conviction. I just think --
The Abbot snaps at him --
ABBOT
Don't think.
John takes a step back at the Abbot's tone. A tone he's never
heard before. The Abbot runs a hand through his thinning hair.
Forces a smile.
ABBOT
It's been a long night. For all of us.
You really don't understand what you're
dealing with here.
JOHN
That's what she said.
The Abbot chafes.
ABBOT
These are ideas which threaten the very
system we live under. The creature is
dead and the woman is gone. Forget them.
Both. Go read. Go fishing. Go anywhere,
but leave this alone.
JOHN
But I --
ABBOT
Alone. I'll get Philip to let Mattias
into the Library, all right? For your
own good, just stay out of this.
John looks like he's going to protest.
ABBOT
I mean it.
JOHN
(slowly)
Yes, Father.
John turns and leaves the room.
The Abbot stares after him.
INT. PRISON LEVEL - NIGHT
Dark. Dank. Dreary.
A NAIL is hammered into a board. Then another.
The board is old, twisted. The grain is pronounced, splintered.
Another board is lifted into place, a nail held -- BAM-BAM-BAM -
HAMMERED in tight.
TWO ANCIENT WORKERS
Drab, torn gray clothing.
Hammer the boards over the opening in the wall.
Methodically covering up --
RIPLEY
Watching them work.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
Defeated.
ON THE ROOF OF THE ABBEY (INTERCUT)
A dozen Monks frantically hammer planks up around the Sulacco
escape ship - A frame of wood --
begin to wall it in...
IN THE PRISON LEVEL
The two ANCIENT WORKERS continue their carpentry.
The planks cover more of the opening.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
Covers more of Ripley.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
She stares...
ON THE ROOF OF THE ABBEY
Planks are rising around the ship.
Covering it. Locking away the good omen turned evil.
IN THE LIBRARY
John and Mattias sit before an open book.
He doesn't read. He can hear the POUNDING of the hammers.
It seems to reverberate THROUGH the planet.
Through his SKULL.
He closes his eyes in pain.
RIPLEY
Only her face is visible.
Another board.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
Then just her eyes.
Just before the last plank is put in place --
WORKER
Here you go, woman. Something from your
ship. Something to keep you company --
He tosses it into the cell. Ripley catches it.
Watches as the last of the light is covered over.
BAM-BAM...BAM.
She continues to stare at the once open wall as her eyes grow
accustomed to the darkness. The little light creeping between
the planks grows in intensity until it is soon enough to see
what it is she has caught --
NEWT'S DOLL'S HEAD.
Ripley looks around her cell -- actually a narrow space behind
other cells, one wall curved out -- like a narrow slice
crossways towards the edge of the pie.
Looks at the Doll's head in her hand.
A beat.
She FREAKS OUT --!
RIPLEY
You fucking idiots! You're dead!
You're all dead!
BEATS the walls. KICKS.
SMASHES her HEAD against the wall.
Again.
Her nose starts to bleed.
Her hand goes to her nose.
She squints in the darkenss.
Sees the BLOOD.
Tastes the iron taste in her mouth.
Death is with her again.
RIPLEY
(sotto)
Dead...
The "widest" part of her cell, the middle, allows her to slide
down into a sitting position. She does.
RIPLEY
Christ. Jesus Christ. It's here. Here.
Shit. Here. I can't get rid of it...
Looks at the Doll's head --
RIPLEY
Newt. This isn't what I wanted...
She throws the doll's head away --
It bounces off the wall and rolls back to an upright position
so that it is staring at her.
RIPLEY
(snaps)
Don't stare at me!
Beat.
VOICE O/S
Sorry.
Ripley looks down at the base of the wall facing her --
Where it meets the floor, in the rotting timbers:
A HOLE. In it:
A MAN'S FACE
Bright, wrinkled eyes beneath a snowy white crew cut.
He's looking back at her.
ON THE ROOF OF THE MONASTERY - NIGHT
The Sulaco escape pod #4 is now a memory as the Monks have
finished walling it up. Now just another part of the Abbey.
As the Monks move down the thin wooden ladders we follow --
Pass them -- down to an open window and into...
INT. LIBRARY - THE MEDIEVAL SECTION - NIGHT INTO DAWN
John is here, Mattias asleep at his feet.
The tables, the benches, the floor are COVERED with hundreds of
books he's pulled off the shelves, their chains all TANGLED.
All open to --
PICTURES OF DEVILS
Different representations of Evil through the ages --
Lucifer, Shaitan, Ahriman, Asmodeus -- Satan.
"The Temptation of Christ" from the Master of Schloss
Lichtenstein. Satan roasting on an enormous grill from
"Tres riches heures du Duc de Berry."
The devil as a serpent. As a semi-humanoid.
Gruenwald's "Temptation of St. Anthony."
Pacher's "Saint Wolfgang and the Devil."
A miasma of Medieval Monsters.
JOHN
Picks his way through the mess. Like a man possessed he fumbles
through book after book.
The first golden rays of daylight filter through the huge
stained glass windows. John rapidly flips through the Medieval
tome in front of him - past an illustration of Satan depicted
as having a FACE on his ASS -- further still -- then stops.
This is it.
We can't see what the illustration is, but we see his REACTION:
His eyes open wide as saucers. SLAMS the book closed as if the
image would strike blind. He turns to Mattias as if to say
something -- Decides not to wake the sleeping dog.
John wraps the book's chain around his hand and puts one foot
up against the shelf. Pulls -- SPANKT!
The old chain gives way.
Face set, he loops the shoulder strap of his burlap medical bag
over his shoulder. Clutches the book to his chest, gently pets
his sleeping dog and goes...
INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE ABBOT'S OFFICE - DAY
John strides down the corridor purposefully but stops and
flattens himself against the wall when the door to the Abbot's
office opens suddenly --
BROTHER GRAHAM, The Hysterical Monk, is forcibly led from the
room by two burly Monks, taken down the corridor in the other
direction. He is gagged. A third Burly Monk moves out of the
doorway with the Abbot.
JOHN
Now find John and have him brought to
me immediately.
THIRD BURLY MONK
Yes, Father.
ABBOT
Start in the library. And keep it quiet.
The Third Burly Monk nods and moves off.
The Abbot watches him leave, then goes back into the room and
closes the door. John stares at the closed door a beat and then
makes up his mind. He turns and runs back down the hallway...
INT. GLASS FACTORY - DAY
The first Monks straggle in for the morning shift.
Kyle is among them. He lifts his blowing iron from a wall
mounted rack and moves towards the glass furnace as two
other Monks begin to stoke the fire.
John enters.
Looks around the room and for a frantic moment cannot find --
KYLE
At the glass furnace. About to dip his blowing iron into the
MOLTEN GLASS. John runs over to him.
Almost knocks him over --
KYLE
Hey! Watch it!
He sees that John is agitated --
KYLE
What? What is it?
The other monks begin to notice the commotion, start moving in
for a look...
JOHN
I -- Abbot. Must --
John tries to catch his breath. He gestulates wildly.
Kyle puts down his blowing iron.
KYLE
John - relax. Take a deep breath -
Christ, now I sound like you --
He sees the book clutched in John's white knuckled hands.
KYLE
Is that it, John? Is it the book --?
JOHN
(panting)
Yes. Devil.
Kyle moves closer to him. Cautiously.
John sees the other monks gathering around --
Closing in on him - whispering --
WHISPERING MONKS
He's got it...
SECOND WHISPERING MONK
Like the Comet Woman...
THIRD WHISPERING MONK
He found her...
WHISPERING MONK
He's infected...
John sees one of the Monks run out -- undoubtedly going to tell
the Abbot. John looks into his friend Kyle's face -- Fear.
KYLE
Everything's gonna be fine. Now, let's
see the --
JOHN
Don't humor me -- I'm --
KYLE
Sure. Everything's gonna be fine...
If only he could explain - he can't.
John YANKS the book away -- spins --
Bursts through the crowd...
KYLE
Wait -- JOHN!
INT. SHAFT ROOM - DAY
The cage is still down, the ropes stretching into the abyss.
John runs in. Moves to the ropes. Places the book on the floor.
Tightens his scarred hands on the rope -- Mind racing:
The woman will know. Know what it is. How to combat it.
He PULLS --
There's no tension against the ropes.
John FALLS back on his ass.
The ropes WHIZ through the rusty pulley overhead.
Pile on the floor in front of John.
He lifts the end of the rope. Stares:
BITTEN THROUGH.
CUT TO:
THROUGH THE MONASTERY - SERIES OF SHOTS
John RUNS through the building.
Through the upper half of the planet.
DOWN through the many levels, past dozens of Monks oblivious to
the previous night's events and the danger they face:
Monks working at Looms.
Monks in the Tanning Room.
Monks in Morning Prayer.
Past them all, to --
INT. ABBEY BASEMENT WORKROOM - DAY
Mops and brooms.
John enters. His hair is wild, breathing heavy.
He shoves the book into his medical bag.
Pushes aside a box of kindling wood to reveal a
WOODEN DOOR set into the timbers of the floor.
He opens the door:
LADDERS
Extending down through huge open areas beneath the upper level.
Past vast underground viaducts that held up by wooden rafters.
Beyond that - a great underground sea that marks the center of
the planet - below that, the cells.
And Ripley.
JOHN
Can smell the dank air from the lower tunnels.
He MUST go down -- The hard way.
He climbs into the darkness...
INT. ABBEY LAVATORY - NIGHT
An enormous room, over a football field in length, consisting
of at least a hundred open toilet STALLS facing a hundred wall
mounted SINKS. Their condition, though, bespeaks the awful
truth -
The stalls furthest away from us are COBWEBBED.
Some have had the side walls stripped for fire wood.
Of the original hundred sinks, maybe twenty are still
functional - A facility created for a much larger number of
colonists than are left.
A SKINNY MONK washes his hands.
IN THE STALLS
Moving down the row of stalls (chest high, thank you) past a
few empty stalls and several grimacing faces, the second to
last being The Abbot --
ABBOT
Cold tonight --
-- continuing to the last, Bald Tribunal Member.
BALD TRIBUNAL MEMBER
Gets colder every night.
ABBOT
And every day. Never this bad. Taken
so much wood out of the structure the
surface wind blows right through the
colony. Right under the floor --
The Bald Tribunal Member SHIVERS as a cold breeze runs along the
waste trough under the floor and chills the air in his bowl.
BALD TRIBUNAL MEMBER
Right up your bloody backside. Nights
like this make me miss plumbing --
Ack --!
He feels a TUGGING at his bowels - it's not piles.
A beat.
ABBOT O/S
What?
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
I don't -- AAH --
The Bald Tribunal Monk SCREAMS as something GRABS him from
below --
(note: the left half of the following 5 pages is cut off.
I have completed the text to the best of my ability.)
Something SNAKES up his rectum and hooks into his lower intestine!
He convulses in spasms of agony.
There is a terrible RIPPING SOUND as the Bald Tribunal Monk is
PULLED VIOLENTLY down -- out of frame --
We PAN BACK down the row of stalls tight on each sitting Monk
and see their HORRIFIED REACTION as they feel the ALIEN drag the
Bald Tribunal Monk's body away under them...
THE ABBOT in his stall
He pounds on the wall --
ABBOT
Matthew? Matthew? Jesus, what's wrong?
SKINNY MONK washing his hands, sees all this. Looses control
of his bodily functions as blood sprays from the faucet --
OTHER MONKS
In their stalls as the toilets reject a torrent of gore!
Blood and viscera spraying the walls -- converting the Abbey
into an abattoir.
CUT TO:
SPACE
Angle on the Orbitor Arceon:
An orb of wood hands peacefully against a tapestry of celestial
seas.
RIPLEY V.O.
Death...
INT. RIPLEY'S CELL - NIGHT
Darkness. Somewhere water drips into a puddle.
Ripley lays on her side on the floor with her head resting
near the hole in the floor. Her eyes are closed.
RIPLEY
Wherever I go.
A HAND pushes a crust of bread through the hole.
She opens her eyes to look at the food. The White-Haired Man's
head appears --
WHITE-HAIRED MAN
Take it.
RIPLEY
Thanks, but no thanks, Anthony.
She knows his name.
ANTHONY
You waiting for meat? They don't bring
me meat because they know I'm an android.
Really don't need it. Bread's better
for you anyway. Harder to digest, so
it makes you feel fuller than you are.
RIPLEY
Not hungry.
Anthony takes a bite.
ANTHONY
Mmmm. Just a little crunchy.
Ripley twists onto her back until she's staring up at the
ceiling.
RIPLEY
Waste of time.
ANTHONY
You don't eat, you'll starve to death,
girl.
RIPLEY
That was the plan when they put me down
here. And why should you care?
ANTHONY
Because I'm a synthetic person you don't
think I can care?
RIPLEY
Believe me, that's a discussion you don't
want to have with me.
ANTHONY
You told me you had a bad experience and
a good one with androids --
RIPLEY
That's one of each. That means you could
go either way. I'm tired of talking about
this.
He pushes the bread towards her again.
ANTHONY
You've still gotta eat. You gotta fight
the bastards --
RIPLEY
I'm tired of fighting. Maybe I'll be
dead before he finds me. Maybe he won't
get the satisfaction.
ANTHONY
He? You make it sound like this Alien
has a personal score to settle with you.
The biology you describe: Queen laying
eggs, larvae, drone -- that's very
insectoid. Insects usually don't bear
grudges.
RIPLEY
And Androids usually aren't the prisoners
of lunatics that believe they're ancient
Greeks.
ANTHONY
Medieval Monks.
RIPLEY
Whatever.
ANTHONY
And they've only chose to live the life
style, they don't believe they're --
(hears something)
What's that?
Ripley strains to listen. In the distance:
KNOCKING. Someone is knocking on the walls.
A VOICE calls out --
INT. PRISON LEVEL CORRIDOR - NIGHT
JOHN
(hoarse)
Ripley!
He moves down the hallway.
BANGS his fist against the walls every few feet --
Waits a moment for a reply, then moves on.
INT. ANTHONY'S CELL
Anthony gets off the floor - Moves so she can see into his cell:
The walls of Anthony's cell are covered with charcoal sketches -
Different versions of demons and the devil. She rolls her eyes -
This guy is an Android!
Anthony crosses to his cell door, peers through eye level.
INT. PRISON LEVEL CORRIDOR HALLWAY - ANTHONY POV
John coming towards him, knocking on the doors of boarded up cells.
ANTHONY
Hey -- you knocking -- cut it out --
You're going to wake everybody up.
John moves to Anthony's door. Looks at him through the slot.
Anthony recognizes him.
ANTHONY
Brother John?
John unbolts Anthony's door.
Picks him up by his cassock --
JOHN
Anthony? Thought you dead fifteen years.
ANTHONY
Made too good for that. What're
you doing?
JOHN
I -- I'm looking -- the Abbot --
ANTHONY
What? You look like you've seen the
devil.
RIPLEY O/S
He has.
Anthony turns to look back at Ripley -- moves aside so John can
see her face at the hole --
ANTHONY
You mean he --
Anthony turns back - John is gone.
INT. THE CORRIDOR
As John begins to PULL the outermosk planks off.
RIPLEY
I was right, wasn't I? You've seen it,
you've seen the Alien?
John pauses at that.
His eyes tighten at the memory.
RIPLEY
I can tell you have. I was right.
It came with me.
(to the wall, sharp)
Go away.
John stops. Looks at the wall.
Ripley's voice comes clearly through the wood...
[/img][/center]
Alien III
Screenplay by John Fasano
Story by Vincent Ward & John Fasano
FIRST DRAFT
March 29, 1990
"But how will you die when your time
comes, Narcissus, since you have no
mother? Without a mother, one cannot
love. Without a mother, one cannot die."
- Hesse
ALIEN III
THE SCREEN IS BLACK
A pinpoint of light appears.
Red. An ember.
Unseen BELLOWS blow.
GLASS FURNACE
The embers glow. Flame.
The fire GROWS.
A RIVER OF MOLTEN GLASS
Heated by the furnace to over 1,300 degrees fahrenheit.
White Hot.
GLASS FACTORY
Flickering flame casts dancing shadows on wooden walls.
Coarsely grained wood. Moisture blasted out by years of
intense heat. Timbers split. Patched with new wood,
it too now old and dry.
SMOKE
Billows up the walls.
Hangs as an angry, black cloud amongst the rafters and beams of
the vaulted ceiling. Almost obscures --
A MAN
On a narrow LEDGE, twenty feet about the Glassworks' floor.
His clothing is Medieval. A rough textured cassock.
He is a MONK.
LOUVERS are set into the wall. He angles them open.
The smoke begins to escape.
The Monk turns, raises arms and LEAPS from his lofty perch --
Gently gliding down to the floor with the aid of a FLOWING FOX --
a primitive hand-held pulley that runs down a rope.
He lands next to the glass furnace, surrounded by --
MORE MONKS
By their dress. With Blowing Iron and Pontil.
They blow and shape the molten glass. Crack off the finished
pieces. The old way.
ONE PARTICULAR MONK
Black skinned, early fifties.
Stirs his five foot long blowing iron in the molten glass, but
he is watching something else. It moves him to song.
Lilting tenor lifts high into the air.
This is BROTHER KYLE.
BROTHER KYLE
Well would he guess the ascending of the star,
Wherein his patient's fortunes settled were.
He knew the course of every malady,
Were it of cold or heat or moist or dry.
Brother John, would-be Doctour of Physick.
We see the object of his song:
BROTHER JOHN
Not yet forty. Strong features, but fear behind the eyes.
The fear that comes from a lack of inner confidence.
A good face, nonetheless.
He stirs a thick mixture in a mortar.
Next to him another MONK sits holding his arm out in front of
him, cassock sleeve rolled up, revealing a vicious BURN.
BROTHER KYLE
Tend you quickly he will,
with bottles from a shelf.
But heals not, so easily,
The ills which plague himself.
Brother John stops stirring.
BROTHER JOHN
(to Kyle)
Enough.
He scoops the salve out with his fingers and applies it to the
Burned Monk's arm. The Burned Monk INHALES sharpley as the cool
mixture contacts the injured area.
BROTHER JOHN
(to the burned Monk)
Relax.
(to Kyle)
Put those lungs of yours to better
use.
BROTHER KYLE
Yes, Doc Tor.
Kyle laughs, removes the blowing iron from the molten glass --
a BLOB of white hot glass hanging on the end.
He rolls the blob on the Marver, a flat, polished piece of
iron, then begins to blow a bottle shaped container.
John wraps a fray-edged cloth bandage around the burn.
JOHN
Keep this from getting wet. Go home at
late afternoon mealtime and don't come
back to work today --
BURNED MONK
But John --
JOHN
I'll tell the Abbot. Just rest today.
You're lucky you only burned yourself on
the side of the furnace. If some of that
glass had gotten on your arm --
He points to the top of his forearm.
JOHN
-- it would've burned clean through to
the other side.
He mimes a drop down from the bottom of his arm.
The Burned Monk shudders at the thought.
BELLS toll.
JOHN
That's late afternoon. Now get on.
BURNED MONK
Thank you, John. I --
JOHN
You're welcome. Go!
The Burned Monk trundles off, injured arm against his chest.
John gathers his mortar, pestle, and extra bandages into a
burlap sack. Kyle comes over.
KYLE
Good work.
JOHN
All right, but I'm no Father Anselm.
KYLE
You're yourself, that's better...
Kyle pushes him through the door...
INTO THE HALLWAY
The Hallway is alive with cassocked monks.
Their LOW CHANTING reverberates throughout the building.
The wooden floorboards creak beneath their combined weights.
This is obviously a MEDIEVAL MONASTERY...
KYLE
The Abbot will be pleased.
JOHN
Don't.
KYLE
Don't what?
JOHN
Please don't tell him. At least until
I know if there's an infection.
KYLE
You want to be the Abbey's Physician,
and you haven't learned the first rule:
Don't worry about the patient.
John's face drops.
KYLE
I shouldn't have. Sorry. Look, I know
how you must --
JOHN
You don't, but thanks anyway.
AT THE END OF THE HALLWAY
A wide stairwell. A constant stream of monks all moving down
the stairs. Coming from floors above. Headed for lunch.
Kyle starts down. John starts up --
KYLE
Not coming down?
JOHN
I have someone waiting for me.
Kyle disappears into the crowd.
John moves up...
THE STAIRWAY
A river of brown cassocks running downstream.
John is the only one moving against the flow.
He exits the stairwell --
ONE FLOOR UP
A narrow corridor lined with doorways.
John moves to one in particular.
He doesn't even look as he grabs the door knob.
This is his room.
He opens the door --
IN BROTHER JOHN'S ROOM
An old, worn out DOG lays in wait on an old, worn out cassock
which is now serving as its bed.
At the sight of John it stands.
JOHN
Come on, Mattias.
The dog, MATTIAS, joins him in the hall.
Monk and pet disappear up a flight of stairs.
Past another dozen or so Monks who are on their way down.
INT. LIBRARY
A vast room filled with rows of wooden tables with low benches
between aisle after aisle of floor-to-ceiling wooden shelves
jammed to capacity with BOOKS of all shapes and sizes. Millions
of books, from the looks of it.
From each book hangs a long CHAIN, long enough to allow the
book to be carried only as far as the nearest table.
A CORPULENT MONK - BROTHER PHILIP
In his fifties, and the Librarian by his stern affect, his
position behind a broad, but also old oak desk, and the large
KEY hanging from his belt. He watches the few stragglers return
their chain bound volumes to the shelves and head for the door,
then rises and joins them...
IN THE CORRIDOR JUST OUTSIDE THE LIBRARY
John leans against the wall as Philip exits.
Mattias is nowhere to be seen.
PHILIP
Brother John.
JOHN
Brother Philip.
PHILIP
Feeding the mind instead of the body
again?
JOHN
My training has taught me to feed what's
hungry.
Philip pats his broad stomach and heads down the hallway.
PHILIP
As did mine. As long as you're alone.
Enjoy yourself -- and remember, no book
leaves the library.
JOHN
How could I forget? Have a good meal...
John watches the corpulent librarian head down the stairs.
When he's gone from sight John lifts the bottom of his cassock
to reveal Mattias.
JOHN
Perfect.
They move into the library...
THE MEDIEVAL SECTION
The oldest books.
John moves to the stacks.
Mattias trots over to a particular bench and sits.
This is his regular place.
AT THE SHELVES
John stands on toe tips to retrieve an ancient Tome.
He runs his fingers over the familiar leather binding.
A smile plays across his lips.
He carries the book, places it on the edge of the table so
there is slack in the chain.
Sits on the bench next to the dog.
Clears his throat, opens the book, begins to read...
John
(reading)
In the year of our Lord 1348 I, Brother
Gerhado of the Minorite Abbey helped bury
the Abbot and my sixty fellow monks --
VOICE O/S
Sometimes, I think you'd like that.
John turns to find --
THE ABBOT
Leader of the monastery. In his seventies but looks younger.
His Cassock is adorned with a large, ornately carved, wooden
CHAIN in place of a rope belt. He crosses to the table.
John closes the book and stands, head bowed in respect.
John
Abbot, I -- I didn't think anyone would --
ABBOT
Mind? Just Philip, if he knew. I passed
him on the way up. He said you'd come
in alone. I knew better.
He scratches the back of Mattias' neck.
ABBOT
Hello, Mattias. How are you, boy?
The dog snuffles in response.
ABBOT
You know what Philip says about Mattias'
hair and his breathing. You'll have to
take him out of here.
JOHN
He likes when I read to him and -- I
can't --
John looks down sheepishly. Though nearly forty, he feels
almost adolescent in the presence of the Abbot.
The Abbot pulls a large key from his pocket.
ABBOT
(smiles)
Someone must have left this one unlocked.
Take the book with you.
He hands the key to John, who is shocked --
this is a great honor.
JOHN
Father, I --?
ABBOT
Kyle tells me you did a good job at
the glassworks today.
JOHN
I'll reserve judgement until the patient
lives.
John crosses to the shelf and unlocks his book.
He returns the key.
ABBOT
It will get easier. Father Anselm was...
an unexpected loss. You'll do fine.
The Abbot walks towards the door...
ABBOT
Just have it back before the end of lunch.
Oh -- And I didn't see you in here.
JOHN
Thank you.
(to Mattias)
Let's go upstairs, boy.
John takes his book -- Moves to a spiral wooden staircase.
Mattias at his heels.
Goes UP --
INTO THE BELL TOWER
The mechanics of the bell tower -- all ropes and wooden cogs
cast scary shadows.
A doorway leads to --
THE ROOF OF THE ABBEY
Thick with sandy dust. The wood shows through thin patches.
We PULL BACK TO REVEAL what we think is the roof of the Abbey
is actually --
THE SURFACE OF ARCEON - NIGHT
The door has opened onto the SURFACE OF A PLANTOID!
The curving horizon broken only by the very top of the
Abbey bell tower poking through from the levels below.
SMOKE curls from vents set into the surface.
Sunken areas of the planet's sirface are SEAS.
This is ARCEON.
An manmade orbiter.
A shell of lightweight foamed steel, five miles in diameter.
Constructed by The Company on Special Order with habitable
level within finished in whatever material suits its end user.
This orbiter, for reasons to be discovered later, has been
sheathed in wood.
JOHN
Walks to the shore of an inland SEA.
Sits on a bare patch of wood. Looks up.
His eyes grow accustomed to --
THE NIGHT SKY - JOHN POV
Freckled with tiny dots of light.
Stars. Spread across the inky void.
Bathe Arceon's surface with their celestial glow.
John smiles at Mattias, breathes deep.
The atmosphere up here is thinner, but fresher.
He opens the book.
Reads aloud --
JOHN
In the year of our Lord 1348 I, Brother
Gerhado of the Minorite Abbey helped bury
the Abbot and my sixty fellow monks, day
by day, one by one, until I am the only
one left. I stayed as long as I could bear
it, then with my dog --
Mattias lifts his ears at this part. His favorite part.
JOHN
- fled. I have put this to parchment lest
this pestilence - this Black Death -
stay my hand.
(beat)
This was finished by another hand...
John closes the book. Something catches his eye --
Something among the myriad points of light in the sky.
Millions of miles away:
ONE OF THE STARS
Brighter than the rest. MOVING.
Fast enough to leave a faint trail.
Across the stars. And down...
A comet.
John stands. Watches --
THE STAR
Growing brighter.
Drawing nearer.
JOHN
Joined by three other MONKS.
They are older than he.
The Four men watch the sky...
THE STAR
Brighter still. Closer.
MORE MONKS
Two dozen. A hundred.
They come up through the planet's surface.
Out of wooden trap doors. Join the others.
Days pass.
Now three hundred.
Necks bowed back.
Mouths agape.
A SUBTITLE identifies...
RELIGIOUS COLONY ARCEON
-----------------------
POPULATION: 350 Exiles
CRIME: Political Heresy
THE STAR
Fills the sky.
Burns brighter still as it hits the planetoid's atmosphere.
ON THE SURFACE OF ARCEON
Hundreds of Monks shield their eyes as the ship -- the star --
ROARS over their heads. Trailing FIRE --
John holds up his hands - to touch a star --
Skin BLISTERS as it passes over him,
He turns and watches as it --
Arcs downward --
INTO THE SEA
WHOMP- SSSSSSSSSS --!!
PLUMES of steam rise into the air.
The water boils. Fish bob to the surface. Bloated. Dead.
JOHN
Is the first to hit the shore.
Small leather and wood fishing boats tossed by the wake.
His coracle is the first into the water.
The others running up behind him.
He cannot hear the SHOUTS of warning.
ON THE SEA - DAWN
The sun cracks over the black water.
John's hands move the rough wooden oars.
Blistered palm opens.
BLOOD flows.
He tears off a piece of his cassock --
Rips it with his teeth --
Wraps the bloody hand.
Rows.
THE STAR
Ship. Star Ship.
Sulaco escape vehicle #4 rocks on the water.
White metal skin blackened by the heat.
JOHN
Rows right into it.
His coracle pitches in the choppy surf.
He scrambles onto the ship's cracked tile surface.
Teeters -- balances -- moves to the unmistakeable HATCH.
Looks around for a knob, a handle --
NEXT TO THE HATCH
A small panel door whose black and yellow stripes denote
urgency. John hesitantly opens the door, revealing a shiny
metal LEVER. He stares at it...a beat.
Then quickly pulls it down...
WUORRRSH -!
Hull door OPENS.
The doorway is a black maw.
John crosses himself.
Begins to lower his foot into the hatch --
KYLE O/S
Watch it!
He almost falls backwards off the ship. Looks back --
THE OTHER MONKS
Are rapidly approaching.
Kyle gestulates wildly --
KYLE
John! Wait -- ! Don't go in!
John turns back to the open hatch.
Machine recirculated air flows out.
He feels it on the skin of his face. Cool.
Cool, and artificial. It calls to him.
He steps in. Swallowed by the blackness --
WHOOSH-CLANG -!
The door closes behind him.
INT. SULACO ESCAPE POD #4 - DAY
Dark. Dim red lights. John stands still as his eyes adjust to
the darkness. He sees:
NEWT'S HYPER SLEEP TUBE
A glass and metal COFFIN -- pneumatic piping twines around its
base. The glass lid is BROKEN. A Small RED LIGHT pulses at the
head of the tube -- a soft VOICE and TONE, like your seat belt
warning -- is audible...
COMPUTER VOICE
(sotto)
Seal broken...seal broken...
John finds himself moving towards the tube...
Looks through the broken lid:
IN THE TUBE
There is a splattered BLOOD STAIN on the sterile white
interior. OLD, turned rust-brown.
Whatever happened here happened a while ago.
Rust colored drips trail down to --
THE FLOOR
Drag marks. His eyes follow the stains to a pile of
Bloody clothing against a control panel. A jumpsuit. Torn.
Child size. The head of child's DOLL, but no body to be found.
JOHN
Looks back towards the door.
Part of him wants to get the hell out here -- but he fights
back his fear. He is a doctor - or trying to be - someone
in here may need his help. He presses forward --
Averts his gaze from the clothing, UP to the blinking and
glowing instrument panels and their myraid --
LIGHTS
Pressure lights. Data lights. Warning lights.
Thousands of lights. Like the stars in the sky.
It's been decades since he's seen technology like this -- and
never this close up. He steps further into the ship, his fear
now replaced by fascination, follows the lights....
ON A PALE GREEN SCREEN
LED numbers race -- 7,291.01.05...06...07
A legand identifies "Elapsed since separation."
He moves on...
A VIDEO MONITOR
Through scanning bars of snow, an image:
A WOMAN with a YOUNG GIRL standing in front of her.
The Woman's arms are wrapped around the girl.
Protective. Maternal.
The Woman speaks. Her message repeats itself.
A tape loop, although John has no idea what that is.
WOMAN
...taking pod four. The Crew of the SS
Sulaco and all Marine commandoes are dead.
Ship's sensors have interrupted the hyper
sleep cycle. An overlooked alien egg has
hatched. Bishop and Hicks have been killed.
Xenomorphs have infested the cruiser. Newt
and I are taking pod four. The Crew of...
The WARNING TONE of the Woman's message rekindles John's fear.
He moves more hesitantly around the periphery of the ship,
following the trail of blinking instruments --
Drawn to touch a button. Click...
SOMETHING TENTACLE-LIKE DROPS DOWN ON HIS SHOULDER!
Just an oxygen mask.
John feels his rapidly BEATING heart as he pushes aside the
plastic, dangling object and continues around the shuttle.
His hand brushes over a SENSOR which responds by lighting and --
HSSSSSSSSS -!
A BLAST of freon shoots out of an overhead pipe --
John SHOUTS and back up into --
ANOTHER HYPER SLEEP TUBE!!!
Next to Newt's now empty tube.
Humming gently. Still operational.
John approaches it cautiously.
He can make out the occupant through the lid...
A WOMAN
The woman from the screen. This is RIPLEY.
In hypersleep. Wearing a white cotton tank top and boxer-type
shorts. Christ, she looks beautiful.
John looks from Ripley to her image on the monitor, then back.
Sinks to his knees, reverent. Fascination has replaced fear
again. Moves his face closer to the lid.
Closer to hers...
DAYLIGHT spills in --
John's head WHIPS towards the source of the light --
THE DOOR
Open. Kyle and the other monks.
KYLE
John - what is it? Is this a Supply ship?
JOHN
No. No supplies. Kyle, there's someone
in here --
The Second Monk looks at Kyle.
SECOND MONK
This is forbidden.
KYLE
John. Just get the hell out of there --
JOHN
I don't want to stay. I have to get her
out before this sinks. You come in, give
me a hand --
KYLE
Her? Look, this is not the supply ship,
so this is technology forbidden to us.
Get out of there now!
John looks down at Ripely.
A KEYPAD is mounted at the head of the tube.
A red button: "EMERG-OPEN"
That's plain enough.
JOHN
All right --
He presses it.
The Tube opens with a loud BLAST of compressed air.
The Monks at the door recoil at the sound.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE SHIP - ON THE SEA - DAY
Ripley has been lowered into a large coracle. John holds her in
front of him. Unconscious.
Her head lolls as the boat rocks on the waves.
The monks start to row back to short.
FIRST MONK
(reverent)
A space ship...
SECOND MONK
(even more reverent)
A woman...
KYLE
You shouldn't have gone in --
JOHN
I'm supposed to be a doctor.
He pushes Ripley's hair away from her forehead.
JOHN
She could've been lost.
FIRST MONK
Been a long time since I saw either.
SECOND MONK
It isn't sinking. Look at it. What are we
supposed to do with it?
KYLE
What was it like in there --?
JOHN
Lights. So many lights --
THIRD MONK
Tow it in. Bring it in.
SECOND MONK
It's evil.
FIRST MONK
It's just technology.
SECOND MONK
Evil technology. Look at these fish --
THIRD MONK
The Abbot will know what we should do
with it --
KYLE
Just lights?
JOHN
Machines. Buttons. Metal.
SECOND MONK
See? Just look at the fish.
THIRD MONK
The Abbot will know.
SECOND MONK
They're boiled. These fish are boiled.
JOHN
Thousands of lights. Like the stars.
Like Heaven on Earth.
Ripley stirs in John's arms. Groans.
Fights to come out of her fugue state...
Looks around through half-lidded eyes --
She is surrounded by rowing, cassocked Monks.
MONKS? She closes her eyes.
Tries to clear the imagine. Opens:
They're still there.
She looks down at the bloodied hands around her waist --
realizes she's sitting on someone's lap.
Looks back over her shoulder --
JOHN
He smiles at her.
Friendly, not sexual.
RIPLEY
Shakes her head. Tries to speak --
Her lips form soundless words.
She looks over her other shoulder, sees --
THE SHIP - RIPLEY POV
Bobbing on the surface.
Growing small with each stroke of the oars.
RIPLEY
Brows knit. Fights the cobwebs in her brain.
Tries to focus on the ship --
Remembers.
Turns to John, tries to speak --
RIPLEY
Wait. New...
She loses consciousness.
GO TO BLACK...
INT. THE ABBEY - RIPLEY'S ROOM - DAY
Streaks of light move across the darkness.
Form patterns of light and shadow against the wooden walls.
There is a sublime stillness, but coming through the walls are
the muted, far off SOUNDS of the Abbey --
The SAWING of wood. HAMMERING.
WHISPERED prayers.
LILTING song.
We move down off the wall to a hand-made wooden bed.
Ripley in restless sleep.
EXT. ARCEON SEA - DUSK
The waters grown rough with the approach of night. Wind whips across
white wave tops -- SPRAYS the dozen Monks who LASH their
boats to Ripley's SHIP with thick hemp ropes --
Start to tow it to shore...
INT. RIPLEY'S ROOM - NIGHT
Ripley is sleeping -- but struggling against some unseen foe --
She tries to sit up -- can't. Tries to shake off the effects of
the suspended animation...looks up through half-lidded eyes:
JOHN
Sits next to her. Quite asleep.
Hands swathed in white bandages. Book resting on his lap.
She squints to make the figure standing in the shadows
behind him -- it's skin picks up and reflects tiny points of
flickering cangle light - seems to ripple as it moves --
THE ALIEN
Big, black shiny-smooth head moves into the taper light.
It moves towards her, cable-like arms held out at its side --
moving out of sync with its feet -- Ripley tries to move -
to cry out -- She can't.
She can only move her eyes. She looks over at John, sleeping
peacefully. He doesn't notice the Alien --
The Alien moves closer.
She can feel his breath -- it evaporates the sweat on her
forehead -- a CHILL runs through her but she still can't move --
The Alien stands alongside her bed.
Extends a six-fingered hand...
Gently rests it on her stomach.
Cocks its head -- like it's listening to something.
The implication is clear.
Ripley finds her voice --
RIPLEY
AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
Her eyes open wide --
She sits bolt upright.
A hand moves to her forehead. Gently pushes her head back to
the pillow. John's.
JOHN
You're out of it. Out of it...
Ripley falls back, eyes glued to where the alien appeared.
John sees her focal point, looks back over his shoulder:
Nothing.
Ripley's eyes roll back into her head.
She tries to speak -- It was there.
Her hand, at her side, tightens into a fist --
John's hand covers hers.
Eases the fingers open again.
She feels the coarse bandages against her palm.
He starts to read quietly from Saint Augustines' Confessions.
She begins to drowse again as his soft voice flows over her
like waves lapping against the shore...
EXT. SURGACE OF ARCEON - DAY
A HOWLING DUST STORM has kicked up. The monks wear small round
goggles, have rags tied over their noses, as they work at a
huge BLOCK AND TACKLE arrangement --
Hundreds of ropes grow TAUT.
Timbers GROAN.
They LIFT Ripley's SHIP -- SWING it over to a large portal --
INT. RIPLEY'S ROOM - DAY
Ripley lays with eyes closed.
Muffled VOICES outside her door:
ABBOT
How is the woman, John?
JOHN
I don't think she's here yet.
At the sound of John's voice the SLIGHTEST smile plays
across Ripley's sleeping lips.
JOHN
She is close, though.
As they continue talking, Ripley wakes. Opens her eyes.
Rolls over onto her side --
There is a window right next to the bed.
Ripley lifts herself up on one elbow, looks out:
HER POV
Garden of Earthly delights...
Monks laboring under a beautiful, celestial blue sky --
picking apples, fishing on the water on small inland lakes.
Working with hammer and saw on small wooden cottages. Lyrical.
It makes her feel good. She scans the countryside...
Sheep graze around wooden ladders stretching hundreds of feet
up to the -- Ripley does a take --
WORKERS ON A SCAFFOLDING
With crude brushes at the end of poles -- PAINT the sky blue.
The Abbey, the cottages, the fields outside her window are all
on one level - INSIDE THE PLANET.
The vaulted CEILING, painted to look like the sky with huge
glass "windows" to allow the sunlight in, is actually the
UNDERSIDE of the planetoid's outer shell.
Ripley looks back at the Monks on the ground:
Instead of repairing, they are taking the cabins apart, stacking
the wood onto push carts --
RIPLEY
What the hell --?
SUDDENLY --
The Sulaco Escape ship APPEARS in front of her.
SWINGS past her window suspended by ropes.
Then disappears up, out of sight.
Ripley checks her pulse.
RIPLEY
This must be a dream. A bad one.
She rolls back onto the bed.
Stares up at the ceiling.
ABOVE HER - ON THE ROOF OF THE ABBEY
Monks scurry around the Ship as it is lowered into place on
a flat area of the roof above the libaray.
It seats with a deeply resounding THUD...
RIPLEY
Hears the SOUND and then another - her door OPENING.
She turns to find the Abbot and John standing in the doorway.
John waits in the doorway as the Abbot crosses to the chair by
the bed and sits.
RIPLEY
Who are you?
ABBOT
I am the Abbot. Leader of this Colony.
And you?
He smiles. Open. Friendly.
RIPLEY
Ripley. How did I get here?
ABBOT
Your vehicle crash landed.
(indicates John)
Brother John found you and brought
you here.
RIPLEY
Where is here?
ABBOT
This is the Minorite Abbey within the
manmade orbiter Arceon.
RIPLEY
Can I use a radio to --
ABBOT
We have no radio here. We are a monastic
order that has renounced all modern
technology. We live the old way. The pure
way.
She shakes her head.
RIPLEY
Uh, I - I still don't feel 100%. Whoever
took me out of the stasis tube must not
have run the full D-F program...
Where's Newt?
The Abbot looks at her blankly.
RIPLEY
There was a little girl with me --
ABBOT
You were alone.
RIPLEY
No. She was with me. I put her in her
stasis tube -- We launched when the --
ABBOT
You were the only living thing found
aboard that vessel.
The Abbot watches Ripley as the terrible truth overcomes her --
RIPLEY
(slowly)
Oh, God. Newt.
She stops -- gets that chill up her spine --
She realizes that she MUST have brought the Alien with her.
RIPLEY
It came with us.
The Abbot leans in.
ABBOT
What came with you?
RIPLEY
Listen -- there is a danger here. It
came with me. How long have I been here?
ABBOT
Almost two days --
RIPLEY
(calculates)
Loose for two days. This planet could be
overrun within the week.
Ripley grabs the Abbot by his cassock --
RIPLEY
Look, there's a xenomorph --
(sees his confusion)
An Alien creature. A killer. A monster.
And now it's here.
The Abbot looks at her the way you look at that guy on the corner
of Santa Monica and 3rd who's babbling about Judgement Day. The
guy with his pants down around his kness.
She sees this, releases her hold on him...
RIPLEY
Calm down, Ripley. Okay, I was with a
platoon of Colonial Marines on a mission
to planetoid LV426. We left Earth six
months ago - maybe a year --
ABBOT
(interrupts)
Wait a moment --
The Abbot becomes aware of John's presence in the doorway.
Turns over his shoulder at him.
ABBOT
Leave us.
John waits there a beat, then backs out and closes the door.
ABBOT
Continue.
RIPLEY
We launched in the Cruiser Sulaco from
Gateway sub-orbital space station --
ABBOT
Not possible.
RIPLEY
What do you mean?
ABBOT
When we left Earth seventy years ago, it
was on the brink of a New Dark Age.
Technology was on the verge of destroying
the planet's environment. A computer virus
was threatening to wipe away all recorded
knowledge. There didn't seem to be any
way it could be averted. In the almost
forty years since we were towed out here
in hypersleep, the news that came with
occasional supply ships only got worse.
Finally, the ships stopped coming. We
had to resign ourselves to the fact that
worst had come to pass, and the Earth
no longer existed.
Now she gives him that look.
RIPLEY
(slowly)
Uh...All right... Forget the Earth - How
many people do you have here? Let's worry
about them. Warn them --
A new look overtakes the Abbot's face. A look of fear.
Now she's getting to him - or is she?
He abruptly stands.
ABBOT
Your mind is troubled. You need to rest
some more.
RIPLEY
I don't need rest - I need to get to
your people. You've got to get to them --
tell them about the alien --
He heads for the door --
ABBOT
I have had enough for now.
RIPLEY
Enough? Didn't you hear what I said?
It could wipe out the entire population
of this planet. It may have started
already - Have there been any unusual
deaths since I got here?
The Abbot stops in the door -
ABBOT
No. And there won't be.
The Abbot SLAMS the door behind him.
THE CORRIDOR OUTSIDE RIPLEY'S ROOM - DAY
John stands nearby as the Abbot addresses two BURLY MONKS
ABBOT
Bolt it.
The guards move to bolt the door.
JOHN
What is it -- What's wrong?
ABBOT
Your patient is in a dangerous mental
state. Nobody gets in or out until I
say so.
JOHN
But I. Her meals --
ABBOT
Nobody.
JOHN
Father, I don't understand --
The Abbot turns and disappears down the hall.
John looks from the departing Abbot to the two Guard/Monks.
THE LIBRARY - NIGHT
John has his head buried in his hands. His back rises and falls
with the rhythmic breathing of sleep.
Mattias curled up on his feet. Asleep as well.
WHAM!
The Library door FLIES open --!
John sits bolt upright --
A HYSTERICAL MONK bursts in.
Rushes to John's table.
HYSTERICAL MONK
Brother John! You're here! The Abbot
said you'd -- I need -- you're the
medic --
JOHN
What?!
HYSTERICAL MONK
My Sandy -- she's ill --
John tries to rub the fitfull sleep out of his eyes.
JOHN
Huh? A woman?
HYSTERICAL MONK
Sandy. My ewe.
John returns his head to the table.
JOHN
One of your sheep? Jesus Christ.
Call a vet.
HYSTERICAL MONK
Father Anselm was the vet.
John looks under his arms at Mattias --
The dog just stares at him.
JOHN
You're no help. Okay, let me get my bag.
All creatures great and small...
INT. HYSTERICAL MONK'S BARN - NIGHT
A small structure housing a handful of sheep and a few chickens
in wire cages. The wooden walss are full of gaps where boards
have been ripped off.
The Hysterical Monk holds a torch to illuminate the scene. One of
his sheep is laying on its side...
HYSTERICAL MONK
I just gave her dinner and she
keeled over.
JOHN
So would I. It's freezing in here.
HYSTERICAL MONK
Been using the wood from the walls
for the fire in my cabin.
JOHN
Haven't we all...
John kneels at the ewe.
She's breathing heavy. Rapidly.
John puts his left hand down on the hay covered floor while he
checks the animal's neck pulse with his right hand.
She gives a weak "Baa-ah."
JOHN
May be pneumonia. Pitch some of that hay
around her. Stop this damn cold breeze.
The Hysterical Monk props the torch up in an empty bucket and
retreives a crude iron pitchfork from the wall.
Starts to pile hay around the fallen animal.
JOHN
First, I'll --
He sits up to reach for his back, then stops when he sees what's
on his left hand --
A SLIMY MUCOUS-LIKE SUBSTANCE
JOHN
Wait a minute...
The Hysterical Monk stops on mid-pitch.
John rubs the material between his fingers.
Brings it close to his nose. Sniffs.
HYSTERICAL MONK
What is it?
JOHN
I don't know. It's all over the ground.
Some sort of --
BAAA-AAAH!!!
The ewe starts to SHAKE - QUIVER --
John tries to hold it down --
The Hysterical Monk, at this juncture, goes completely apeshit.
HYSTERICAL MONK
What?! WHAT?!
JOHN
Jesus! Help m --
The ewe is shaking so violently that John is thrown back --
He knocks over the bucket -- the torch falls into the hay --
The light is cut off as the torch almost smothers.
Then the hay starts to burn --
Weak fire light revealing:
BAAaa-Aha-SCLORTCH-H-!!
THE EWE EXPLODES ---!
Stomach BURSTS --
SPRAYING the two Monks with entrails and blood --
They start SCREAMING.
The flickering FIRE LIGHT grows as...
A TERRIBLE ALIEN CHEST-BURSTER
BURSTS out of the jerking and twitching carcass.
It shows the characteristics of the animal in which it has
gestated. Tiny razor sharp teeth and black, glass-like eyes
peer from a enlongated head covered with downy, but gore-matted
WOOL. A quadroped, its shrunked hind legs struggling to free
itself from the cooling morass of intestines.
John can only SCREAM as the most horrible nightmare he can
imagine tries to slough off the animal's mortal coil.
The Hysterical Monk, fear overcome with ANGER at the loss of
his beloved Sandy, steps in front of the near catatonic Medic
and instinctively THRUSTS his pitchfork into the creature --
The sharp prongs PIERCE its still forming body --
The CREATURE
WAILS a high pitched SHRIEK - half alien, half sheep as it is
roughly TORN from it's nesting place --
The Monk lifts --
It TWISTS at the end of the fork, acid blood dripping onto the
wood floor -- each drop bursting into a little pool of FIRE.
The Hysterical Monk turns to the now raging hay fire --
The entire corner of the barn is ablaze --
SHOVES the abomination in --
The Sheep/Alien POPS and SIZZLES as tongues of flame leap up to
lap at it's struggling body -- tiny tail whipping about --
The creature dies, its fading screams are soon the only sound
heard within the barn. The Hysterical Monk holds his fork in
the flame as he looks back to check on --
JOHN
Face contorted, eyes glued to the burning creature. Heaving
lungs push air through his diaphram, but no sound comes from
his open mouth -- The Doctor in training has seen the devil.
EXT. HYSTERICAL MONK'S BARN - NIGHT
Wooden walls collapse inward as the building becomes a pyre.
Acrid black smoke curls up to the ceiling and spreads out
across the rafters...
We pull back from the sight INTO a window. Into
INT. RIPLEY'S ROOM - NIGHT
Ripley, watches the burning barn. Frustrated, she climbs out of
the bed on unsteady legs, wearing her tank top and shorts.
Pulls on a coarse wollen cassock, ties the rope belt --
RIPLEY
Idiots...I'll --
WHAM!
The door BURSTS OPEN --
RIPLEY
What the -?
Four BURLY MONKS rush in and grab her.
TEAR her out of bed --
INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT
Ripley is dragged down the darkened hallway.
ABBOT V.O.
An evil has come to Arceon...
IN THE TRIBUNAL ROOM - NIGHT
As he continues we move down a row of stern Monk faces, ending
at the Abbots...
ABBOT
You heard Brother Graham tell of the
devil inside sheep's wool --
He motions towards the Hysterical Monk, sitting in the crowd.
ABBOT
An evil brought by this woman in her
vessel of technology.
PULL BACK TO REVEAL
A large circular room with wooden walls stretching thirty feet
high. Light creeps in through stained glass windows.
Hundreds of monks sits in a gallery that looms over
the floor of the Tribunal. On the floor:
The Abbot and the five eldest Monks sit at a long table facing
the witness stand. On the stand:
RIPLEY
Considers the faces that surround her. Fear. Hate.
RIPLEY
This can't be happening.
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
You have no voice in this tribunal.
RIPLEY
You must listen to me! You're all in
terrible danger! It came with me on
the ship --
ABBOT
We know that. At first we believed its
arrival was a good omen. But it has only
brought pestilence. Dead sheep. Dead fish.
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
Evil.
Ripley turns to the Abbot.
RIPLEY
Yes, the ship brought it. Not evil. It
brought the Alien. I told you, it's here.
ABBOT
We know the name of the evil it brought.
It brought technology. Technology to
destroy our planet, as surely as it
destroyed the Earth.
MONK IN AUDIENCE
Destruction!
RIPLEY
I was on the Earth less than a year ago.
It's still there. People, cities, all
still there!
A murmur through the crowd. Some are listening to her.
The Abbot looks around. He must be in command.
ABBOT
(matter of fact)
All dead.
RIPLEY
(screams)
It's still there!
The Abbot smiles to himself for making her crack.
He stands and begins to pace.
ABBOT
You could not have been on the Earth a
year ago, because there is no Earth to
be on -- for at least twenty years.
RIPLEY
I haven't been floating in space for
twenty years. Let me get to my ship
and I'll prove it.
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
No. Who knows what new evils she'll
release if allowed back into that
infernal machine.
MONK IN AUDIENCE
No! Don't let her!!
TRIBUNAL MEMBER
This woman is a danger. She denies The
New Dark Age. She denies reality.
RIPLEY
This is reality. There is a Xenomorph
loose on this planetoid - a alien -- it must
have stowed away on my ship -- must have
killed --
(swallows hard)
Newt. Killed the girl I brought with me.
You can't stop it. It goes inside you like
an egg - grows -
(mimes)
Explodes out of you - keeps growing into
some sort of monster. Kills you --
Kills all of you...
She looks at the Medieval people around her.
They stare at her in complete confusion.
To them, she does sound like a madwoman.
RIPLEY
Who are you people? Look at you -- all
of you -- the way you're dressed. This
isn't the Middle Ages. You're in space --
on a artifical planet. What are you
doing out here?
There, in the upper tier -- John. They make eye contact.
She looks to him pleadingly.
RIPLEY
Isn't there anyone here who will
listen?
John looks from Ripley to the Abbot.
The Abbot stares him down.
John turns away.
RIPLEY
(defeated)
I guess not. I can't believe this...
The gavel BANGS.
The Abbot sits in a moment of contemplation.
ABBOT
Then there is no choice.
The Four Monks grab Ripley roughly --
Bind her arms.
ABBOT
(to Ripley)
The evil is inside you. I cast you down.
To be sealed away. And God have mercy on
your soul.
SLAM CUT TO:
THE SHAFT ROOM - DAY
A Medieval elevator shaft. The "elevator" is a wooden cage
lowered on thick, rough hewn ropes.
Ripley, bound, is led to it.
She looks back at the monks who have gathered at the door --
RIPLEY
You won't be able to fight it...
You don't know what it is --!
She's put into the cage. The door is secured.
Two monks begins to pull the ropes. The cage is lifted out over
the abyss -- a vast cavernesque space.
The other Monks move closer. Crowd around the edge --
John pushes through them - right to the edge --
Watches as the cage is slowly lowered down...
Ripley looks directly at John --
RIPLEY
You've sentenced yourselves to
death!
John watches as she disappears down into the darkness...
Then turns and pushes his way through the crowd --
Down the hall --
THE TRIBUNAL ROOM
Empty now except for the Abbot and the Tribunal Members.
They speak in hushed tones.
John appears in the doorway, but pauses -
strains to hear what they are saying:
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
...they'll have started before she gets
down to the Hermitage level.
ABBOT
No trouble?
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
Only finding the wood for the ship. But
Anderson's hut was about that big, and
he's dead three months now.
ABBOT
I had that wood earmaked for the Cloister
next winter. Well, we might not get to
the winter if we don't take care of this.
By winter time we can start taking the
penitent cells apart. No one in them.
ANOTHER TRIBUNAL MONK
The wood isn't going to last forever.
ABBOT
Neither are we --
He becomes aware of John's presence, and motions the other
Tribunal members out of the room. John moves to the Abbot.
The Abbot knows what's coming...
ABBOT
Go ahead.
JOHN
This woman. Ripley. I tended her --
ABBOT
Yes, and you did a good job. You
shouldn't feel responsible. You
couldn't have known --
JOHN
Please, sir, let me finish. I feel that
there may be something to what she says.
ABBOT
There isn't.
The Abbot moves to his table, begins to gather up his gavel,
notebook. John follows him --
JOHN
I don't understand what you are doing.
ABBOT
This colony is my responsibility. I am
protecting the colony.
JOHN
From what? This woman? You never gave
her a chance. How can you be so sure
you're right?
ABBOT
A better question is what makes you
think I'm wrong?
JOHN
You didn't see this thing -- this demon --
Brother Graham and I -- we both saw it.
ABBOT
(realizes)
That's right. You both did.
(beat)
And what was it?
JOHN
I -- I don't know what it was. But I
don't think Ripley was a party to it.
ABBOT
She admits she brought it.
JOHN
But she tried to warn us --
ABBOT
You know that's how the devil works.
Deception.
JOHN
But I believe her. I don't know how to
describe it -- A feeling.
ABBOT
You haven't seen a woman in thirty years.
Where does this feeling originate, John?
JOHN
(points to his head)
Here.
Pause.
ABBOT
I believe you. But your feelings are
fooling you.
JOHN
It's - It's her conviction. I just think --
The Abbot snaps at him --
ABBOT
Don't think.
John takes a step back at the Abbot's tone. A tone he's never
heard before. The Abbot runs a hand through his thinning hair.
Forces a smile.
ABBOT
It's been a long night. For all of us.
You really don't understand what you're
dealing with here.
JOHN
That's what she said.
The Abbot chafes.
ABBOT
These are ideas which threaten the very
system we live under. The creature is
dead and the woman is gone. Forget them.
Both. Go read. Go fishing. Go anywhere,
but leave this alone.
JOHN
But I --
ABBOT
Alone. I'll get Philip to let Mattias
into the Library, all right? For your
own good, just stay out of this.
John looks like he's going to protest.
ABBOT
I mean it.
JOHN
(slowly)
Yes, Father.
John turns and leaves the room.
The Abbot stares after him.
INT. PRISON LEVEL - NIGHT
Dark. Dank. Dreary.
A NAIL is hammered into a board. Then another.
The board is old, twisted. The grain is pronounced, splintered.
Another board is lifted into place, a nail held -- BAM-BAM-BAM -
HAMMERED in tight.
TWO ANCIENT WORKERS
Drab, torn gray clothing.
Hammer the boards over the opening in the wall.
Methodically covering up --
RIPLEY
Watching them work.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
Defeated.
ON THE ROOF OF THE ABBEY (INTERCUT)
A dozen Monks frantically hammer planks up around the Sulacco
escape ship - A frame of wood --
begin to wall it in...
IN THE PRISON LEVEL
The two ANCIENT WORKERS continue their carpentry.
The planks cover more of the opening.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
Covers more of Ripley.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
She stares...
ON THE ROOF OF THE ABBEY
Planks are rising around the ship.
Covering it. Locking away the good omen turned evil.
IN THE LIBRARY
John and Mattias sit before an open book.
He doesn't read. He can hear the POUNDING of the hammers.
It seems to reverberate THROUGH the planet.
Through his SKULL.
He closes his eyes in pain.
RIPLEY
Only her face is visible.
Another board.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
Then just her eyes.
Just before the last plank is put in place --
WORKER
Here you go, woman. Something from your
ship. Something to keep you company --
He tosses it into the cell. Ripley catches it.
Watches as the last of the light is covered over.
BAM-BAM...BAM.
She continues to stare at the once open wall as her eyes grow
accustomed to the darkness. The little light creeping between
the planks grows in intensity until it is soon enough to see
what it is she has caught --
NEWT'S DOLL'S HEAD.
Ripley looks around her cell -- actually a narrow space behind
other cells, one wall curved out -- like a narrow slice
crossways towards the edge of the pie.
Looks at the Doll's head in her hand.
A beat.
She FREAKS OUT --!
RIPLEY
You fucking idiots! You're dead!
You're all dead!
BEATS the walls. KICKS.
SMASHES her HEAD against the wall.
Again.
Her nose starts to bleed.
Her hand goes to her nose.
She squints in the darkenss.
Sees the BLOOD.
Tastes the iron taste in her mouth.
Death is with her again.
RIPLEY
(sotto)
Dead...
The "widest" part of her cell, the middle, allows her to slide
down into a sitting position. She does.
RIPLEY
Christ. Jesus Christ. It's here. Here.
Shit. Here. I can't get rid of it...
Looks at the Doll's head --
RIPLEY
Newt. This isn't what I wanted...
She throws the doll's head away --
It bounces off the wall and rolls back to an upright position
so that it is staring at her.
RIPLEY
(snaps)
Don't stare at me!
Beat.
VOICE O/S
Sorry.
Ripley looks down at the base of the wall facing her --
Where it meets the floor, in the rotting timbers:
A HOLE. In it:
A MAN'S FACE
Bright, wrinkled eyes beneath a snowy white crew cut.
He's looking back at her.
ON THE ROOF OF THE MONASTERY - NIGHT
The Sulaco escape pod #4 is now a memory as the Monks have
finished walling it up. Now just another part of the Abbey.
As the Monks move down the thin wooden ladders we follow --
Pass them -- down to an open window and into...
INT. LIBRARY - THE MEDIEVAL SECTION - NIGHT INTO DAWN
John is here, Mattias asleep at his feet.
The tables, the benches, the floor are COVERED with hundreds of
books he's pulled off the shelves, their chains all TANGLED.
All open to --
PICTURES OF DEVILS
Different representations of Evil through the ages --
Lucifer, Shaitan, Ahriman, Asmodeus -- Satan.
"The Temptation of Christ" from the Master of Schloss
Lichtenstein. Satan roasting on an enormous grill from
"Tres riches heures du Duc de Berry."
The devil as a serpent. As a semi-humanoid.
Gruenwald's "Temptation of St. Anthony."
Pacher's "Saint Wolfgang and the Devil."
A miasma of Medieval Monsters.
JOHN
Picks his way through the mess. Like a man possessed he fumbles
through book after book.
The first golden rays of daylight filter through the huge
stained glass windows. John rapidly flips through the Medieval
tome in front of him - past an illustration of Satan depicted
as having a FACE on his ASS -- further still -- then stops.
This is it.
We can't see what the illustration is, but we see his REACTION:
His eyes open wide as saucers. SLAMS the book closed as if the
image would strike blind. He turns to Mattias as if to say
something -- Decides not to wake the sleeping dog.
John wraps the book's chain around his hand and puts one foot
up against the shelf. Pulls -- SPANKT!
The old chain gives way.
Face set, he loops the shoulder strap of his burlap medical bag
over his shoulder. Clutches the book to his chest, gently pets
his sleeping dog and goes...
INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE ABBOT'S OFFICE - DAY
John strides down the corridor purposefully but stops and
flattens himself against the wall when the door to the Abbot's
office opens suddenly --
BROTHER GRAHAM, The Hysterical Monk, is forcibly led from the
room by two burly Monks, taken down the corridor in the other
direction. He is gagged. A third Burly Monk moves out of the
doorway with the Abbot.
JOHN
Now find John and have him brought to
me immediately.
THIRD BURLY MONK
Yes, Father.
ABBOT
Start in the library. And keep it quiet.
The Third Burly Monk nods and moves off.
The Abbot watches him leave, then goes back into the room and
closes the door. John stares at the closed door a beat and then
makes up his mind. He turns and runs back down the hallway...
INT. GLASS FACTORY - DAY
The first Monks straggle in for the morning shift.
Kyle is among them. He lifts his blowing iron from a wall
mounted rack and moves towards the glass furnace as two
other Monks begin to stoke the fire.
John enters.
Looks around the room and for a frantic moment cannot find --
KYLE
At the glass furnace. About to dip his blowing iron into the
MOLTEN GLASS. John runs over to him.
Almost knocks him over --
KYLE
Hey! Watch it!
He sees that John is agitated --
KYLE
What? What is it?
The other monks begin to notice the commotion, start moving in
for a look...
JOHN
I -- Abbot. Must --
John tries to catch his breath. He gestulates wildly.
Kyle puts down his blowing iron.
KYLE
John - relax. Take a deep breath -
Christ, now I sound like you --
He sees the book clutched in John's white knuckled hands.
KYLE
Is that it, John? Is it the book --?
JOHN
(panting)
Yes. Devil.
Kyle moves closer to him. Cautiously.
John sees the other monks gathering around --
Closing in on him - whispering --
WHISPERING MONKS
He's got it...
SECOND WHISPERING MONK
Like the Comet Woman...
THIRD WHISPERING MONK
He found her...
WHISPERING MONK
He's infected...
John sees one of the Monks run out -- undoubtedly going to tell
the Abbot. John looks into his friend Kyle's face -- Fear.
KYLE
Everything's gonna be fine. Now, let's
see the --
JOHN
Don't humor me -- I'm --
KYLE
Sure. Everything's gonna be fine...
If only he could explain - he can't.
John YANKS the book away -- spins --
Bursts through the crowd...
KYLE
Wait -- JOHN!
INT. SHAFT ROOM - DAY
The cage is still down, the ropes stretching into the abyss.
John runs in. Moves to the ropes. Places the book on the floor.
Tightens his scarred hands on the rope -- Mind racing:
The woman will know. Know what it is. How to combat it.
He PULLS --
There's no tension against the ropes.
John FALLS back on his ass.
The ropes WHIZ through the rusty pulley overhead.
Pile on the floor in front of John.
He lifts the end of the rope. Stares:
BITTEN THROUGH.
CUT TO:
THROUGH THE MONASTERY - SERIES OF SHOTS
John RUNS through the building.
Through the upper half of the planet.
DOWN through the many levels, past dozens of Monks oblivious to
the previous night's events and the danger they face:
Monks working at Looms.
Monks in the Tanning Room.
Monks in Morning Prayer.
Past them all, to --
INT. ABBEY BASEMENT WORKROOM - DAY
Mops and brooms.
John enters. His hair is wild, breathing heavy.
He shoves the book into his medical bag.
Pushes aside a box of kindling wood to reveal a
WOODEN DOOR set into the timbers of the floor.
He opens the door:
LADDERS
Extending down through huge open areas beneath the upper level.
Past vast underground viaducts that held up by wooden rafters.
Beyond that - a great underground sea that marks the center of
the planet - below that, the cells.
And Ripley.
JOHN
Can smell the dank air from the lower tunnels.
He MUST go down -- The hard way.
He climbs into the darkness...
INT. ABBEY LAVATORY - NIGHT
An enormous room, over a football field in length, consisting
of at least a hundred open toilet STALLS facing a hundred wall
mounted SINKS. Their condition, though, bespeaks the awful
truth -
The stalls furthest away from us are COBWEBBED.
Some have had the side walls stripped for fire wood.
Of the original hundred sinks, maybe twenty are still
functional - A facility created for a much larger number of
colonists than are left.
A SKINNY MONK washes his hands.
IN THE STALLS
Moving down the row of stalls (chest high, thank you) past a
few empty stalls and several grimacing faces, the second to
last being The Abbot --
ABBOT
Cold tonight --
-- continuing to the last, Bald Tribunal Member.
BALD TRIBUNAL MEMBER
Gets colder every night.
ABBOT
And every day. Never this bad. Taken
so much wood out of the structure the
surface wind blows right through the
colony. Right under the floor --
The Bald Tribunal Member SHIVERS as a cold breeze runs along the
waste trough under the floor and chills the air in his bowl.
BALD TRIBUNAL MEMBER
Right up your bloody backside. Nights
like this make me miss plumbing --
Ack --!
He feels a TUGGING at his bowels - it's not piles.
A beat.
ABBOT O/S
What?
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
I don't -- AAH --
The Bald Tribunal Monk SCREAMS as something GRABS him from
below --
(note: the left half of the following 5 pages is cut off.
I have completed the text to the best of my ability.)
Something SNAKES up his rectum and hooks into his lower intestine!
He convulses in spasms of agony.
There is a terrible RIPPING SOUND as the Bald Tribunal Monk is
PULLED VIOLENTLY down -- out of frame --
We PAN BACK down the row of stalls tight on each sitting Monk
and see their HORRIFIED REACTION as they feel the ALIEN drag the
Bald Tribunal Monk's body away under them...
THE ABBOT in his stall
He pounds on the wall --
ABBOT
Matthew? Matthew? Jesus, what's wrong?
SKINNY MONK washing his hands, sees all this. Looses control
of his bodily functions as blood sprays from the faucet --
OTHER MONKS
In their stalls as the toilets reject a torrent of gore!
Blood and viscera spraying the walls -- converting the Abbey
into an abattoir.
CUT TO:
SPACE
Angle on the Orbitor Arceon:
An orb of wood hands peacefully against a tapestry of celestial
seas.
RIPLEY V.O.
Death...
INT. RIPLEY'S CELL - NIGHT
Darkness. Somewhere water drips into a puddle.
Ripley lays on her side on the floor with her head resting
near the hole in the floor. Her eyes are closed.
RIPLEY
Wherever I go.
A HAND pushes a crust of bread through the hole.
She opens her eyes to look at the food. The White-Haired Man's
head appears --
WHITE-HAIRED MAN
Take it.
RIPLEY
Thanks, but no thanks, Anthony.
She knows his name.
ANTHONY
You waiting for meat? They don't bring
me meat because they know I'm an android.
Really don't need it. Bread's better
for you anyway. Harder to digest, so
it makes you feel fuller than you are.
RIPLEY
Not hungry.
Anthony takes a bite.
ANTHONY
Mmmm. Just a little crunchy.
Ripley twists onto her back until she's staring up at the
ceiling.
RIPLEY
Waste of time.
ANTHONY
You don't eat, you'll starve to death,
girl.
RIPLEY
That was the plan when they put me down
here. And why should you care?
ANTHONY
Because I'm a synthetic person you don't
think I can care?
RIPLEY
Believe me, that's a discussion you don't
want to have with me.
ANTHONY
You told me you had a bad experience and
a good one with androids --
RIPLEY
That's one of each. That means you could
go either way. I'm tired of talking about
this.
He pushes the bread towards her again.
ANTHONY
You've still gotta eat. You gotta fight
the bastards --
RIPLEY
I'm tired of fighting. Maybe I'll be
dead before he finds me. Maybe he won't
get the satisfaction.
ANTHONY
He? You make it sound like this Alien
has a personal score to settle with you.
The biology you describe: Queen laying
eggs, larvae, drone -- that's very
insectoid. Insects usually don't bear
grudges.
RIPLEY
And Androids usually aren't the prisoners
of lunatics that believe they're ancient
Greeks.
ANTHONY
Medieval Monks.
RIPLEY
Whatever.
ANTHONY
And they've only chose to live the life
style, they don't believe they're --
(hears something)
What's that?
Ripley strains to listen. In the distance:
KNOCKING. Someone is knocking on the walls.
A VOICE calls out --
INT. PRISON LEVEL CORRIDOR - NIGHT
JOHN
(hoarse)
Ripley!
He moves down the hallway.
BANGS his fist against the walls every few feet --
Waits a moment for a reply, then moves on.
INT. ANTHONY'S CELL
Anthony gets off the floor - Moves so she can see into his cell:
The walls of Anthony's cell are covered with charcoal sketches -
Different versions of demons and the devil. She rolls her eyes -
This guy is an Android!
Anthony crosses to his cell door, peers through eye level.
INT. PRISON LEVEL CORRIDOR HALLWAY - ANTHONY POV
John coming towards him, knocking on the doors of boarded up cells.
ANTHONY
Hey -- you knocking -- cut it out --
You're going to wake everybody up.
John moves to Anthony's door. Looks at him through the slot.
Anthony recognizes him.
ANTHONY
Brother John?
John unbolts Anthony's door.
Picks him up by his cassock --
JOHN
Anthony? Thought you dead fifteen years.
ANTHONY
Made too good for that. What're
you doing?
JOHN
I -- I'm looking -- the Abbot --
ANTHONY
What? You look like you've seen the
devil.
RIPLEY O/S
He has.
Anthony turns to look back at Ripley -- moves aside so John can
see her face at the hole --
ANTHONY
You mean he --
Anthony turns back - John is gone.
INT. THE CORRIDOR
As John begins to PULL the outermosk planks off.
RIPLEY
I was right, wasn't I? You've seen it,
you've seen the Alien?
John pauses at that.
His eyes tighten at the memory.
RIPLEY
I can tell you have. I was right.
It came with me.
(to the wall, sharp)
Go away.
John stops. Looks at the wall.
Ripley's voice comes clearly through the wood...